Reboot
by QuasiOuster
Summary: A story surrounding Force Quit but turned on it's side where Jo infiltrates the Matrix program instead of Carter.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors Note: I thought I'd try something that I haven't done in a while which is to alter a canon story with some crazy twist. I mused to a friend about what may have gone differently if either Henry or Jo had gone inside the Matrix instead of Carter in Force Quit and it led to an interesting discussion. So I'm running with that idea here. I've had this kicking around my hard drive for a while in parts but haven't really put much time into editing it. **__**Since I'm on another trip where I'm spending a lot of time on buses and airplanes and trains, I thought I'd spruce it up before I lost the energy/time to do anything with it. I'll be hitting up six states in six days (okay, five states and an unfairly disenfranchised territory) so we'll see if I end up posting a section in one of each.**_

_**Also, I don't claim to own any parts of the show or the characters. I'm just playing nicely with them. **_

_**Spoilers for all episodes up to Force Quit. It's probably a good idea to have seen that episode or I imagine some parts would be confusing. Enjoy and thanks for reading. **_

* * *

**Chapter One  
****Control: Part I**

Jo stared from Beverly Barlowe to Carter to Henry. They were all huddled around a computer contemplating the most sensible plan for saving their friends. Or at least that's the story that Beverly is sticking with. Her allegations about the total immersion simulation sounded impossible. But what else did they have to go on?

It was taking everything in her not to handcuff the older woman and kick her ass into the dingiest, darkest cell to rot. Her anger at being locked in her own cell hadn't dissipated not to mention what that bitch had put Henry, Allison and the rest of her friends through. But she had too much information to be bluffing and Jo wasn't willing to risk the lives of her friends and colleagues just to settle a score.

She wasn't willing to risk Zane.

Her walkabout hadn't gotten her very far in the self-reflection department but neither had it dimmed the way her heart fluttered when she thought of the man she'd been sharing her bed with recently—and reluctantly her heart, she realized belatedly. Well, not realized exactly. It was more like she knew from the beginning and had been running from it, keeping as much distance as she could so as not to get hurt if he wasn't willing to fall for her a second time. With so much confusion in the rest of her life, she was afraid to believe that he was serious. Then she'd have no choice but to surrender and that thought terrified her.

When Beverly said that someone had already been killed inside the simulation, she panicked, sure that her self-proclaimed smartass would have been the one poking around and figured out something was wrong. If he died in there, she'd never be able to make things right with him. There was no relief to hearing instead that it was Holly who was murdered by Senator Wen. She didn't want to think about how crushed Fargo would be over this. And she certainly didn't want to contemplate what would happen if she, Henry and Carter couldn't find the crew in time to save them from the same fate.

She didn't claim to understand everything that Beverly was implying about where the lost Astraeus crew was located, although she clearly understood more than Carter judging by the confused expression on his face. She didn't care about the science behind it, all she knew was that she needed to get her people out of there.

Jo listened quietly as Beverly broke down to Henry how the program worked and how they should go about infiltrating it. These things always sounded so simple when the eggheads explained it but give them a spare second and they'll come up with a catch.

"If you die in the program…" Beverly offered.

"Uh, yeah, you die here too." Jack finished grimly.

They all looked at each other contemplating the gravity of the situation they were in.

Henry stared down Beverly before breaking the silence. "I'll do it." Jo's heart sank. It had to be incredibly difficult for Henry to know that Beverly held Grace's life in her hands along with the rest of the crew. She had been responsible for so much destruction in his life and for him to offer up himself defied all logic to Jo. But the depth of Henry's love and devotion to those he cared about was unmatched by anyone Jo had ever met.

Jo was so focused on Henry that she didn't notice the building resolve from Carter. "I think I should go." Cautiously glancing at Henry, the sheriff tried to gauge his reaction.

"What!" Jo was not amused at this development.

Carter must be thinking along the same lines as she. Henry was already worried and under pressure from the DOD. This was too much to ask of him. However she listened as Carter rationalized why he should be the one to go inside the program. All it did was provoke her annoyance. Jack Carter had started off being a cocky, insensitive know-it-all of a boss but over time, he had turned into a mentor and one of her closest friends. She had a tremendous amount of respect for him, even more important to her because he had earned it.

But damn if he didn't love playing the hero. He just threw himself right into the line of fire even when it made no sense to do so.

"Hold on a second Carter. Beverly just said that the NPCs are already on the prowl for anything that looks even remotely out of place so they can eradicate any threats to the integrity of the program. It's going to be even more dangerous once we cut off the programmers' ability to see what's going on."

He furrowed his brow in concentration and stared at her. "Right," he responded slowly, clearly not knowing where she was going with this and certainly not expecting her to protest.

"So who do you think is better suited to infiltrate that program, someone with years of experience running covert ops in hostile territories or someone who has twice spilled the beans on one of Vincent's surprise parties and gets flustered if S.A.R.A.H. switches up his early morning coffee routine."

Carter opened his mouth to protest. Which part of her statement he had the most trouble with was unclear but she had no interest in waiting for a response.

"We don't have time. Carter, my team knows that you're taking the lead on this operation and they will follow wherever you tell them to go and whatever you tell them to do. Beverly hook me up." She walked over to the chair and waited for everyone else to get over their shock and get things started. "Now!" she shouted. "It's decided," she followed with a quiet conviction.

With one final look around the room, eyes lingering a moment longer on Henry, Beverly snapped back to business. "Should we get started then?"

* * *

Jo was situating herself into the chair waiting for Beverly and Henry to do the final checks on the system. Carter had jokingly quizzed her on the information she needed to convey to the others in order to blow up the program. In return, she made him promise not to let Beverly Barlowe out of his sight.

"Jo, we're ready to, uh, jack you in, I guess," Henry said walking over to her.

Carter rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Oh, now that just sounds weird."

"Tell me about it," she said smiling lightly. Her grin faded quickly though as it settled in what exactly it was that she had agreed to do. She was aware that the crew thought it was four years in the future but she had no idea what kind of response she would get when she tried to explain the frankly ludicrous idea that they were trapped in some kind of real-world Matrix. Well, Fargo would probably go for it but what about everyone else? They were all scientists and she wasn't exactly the best authority on technological issues in Eureka.

She pushed away her self-doubt. She couldn't afford to second-guess her skills. Just like any other undercover mission she'd done before, she was going to focus on her objective and not every little thing that may or may not go wrong.

Beverly suddenly entered into her line of sight. "You'll replace the NPC Jo Lupo that's already in the program. All the NPCs are independent subroutines so they'll only know that something's different if you tip them off, so don't."

She heard Carter chuckle next to her. "That means no riding into armed troops on a stolen motorcycle and going out in a blaze of glory." She flashed him a sharp look while Henry laughed softly at his shoulder. "Okay, the blaze of glory is authorized but only if it's the IR spikey thingie we're looking for," he clarified, simulating a large explosion with his nervous gesticulating.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Right. Got it." She straightened out her shoulders and prepared herself for the next steps as Henry continued going over their plan one more time.

"Blow the ship up quickly; once we see the heat spike we'll pull you back." Beverly nodded in agreement but nothing about either of their explanations gave her any comfort. No matter which way you looked at it, there were no guarantees. But she had to destroy that ship and get her team in position to rescue the Astraeus crew. Whatever happened to her wasn't as important as getting them out of there. She was military so she knew the risks. The crew were civilians and they had never had a choice or a chance.

"Okay," Jo said with determination, ready to get the show on the road. "Zane always said I should play more video games," she quipped, leaning back.

"Except in this one there are no extra lives and we won't have a way to see what's going on in there. You'll be on your own," Beverly warned. That wasn't exactly true. She had Carter and Henry and her team in Eureka watching her back. But Beverly wouldn't understand that concept. Everything was cloak and dagger to her. It's like it wasn't worth doing unless it involved a whole lot of unnecessary subterfuge and massive betrayal.

"Great pep talk." From the way Beverly flinched, she was sure the woman had registered her bitter tone. She approached Jo anyway carrying some kind of metal contraption in her hand. This was it.

It turned out the metal ring went around her head, presumably to hook up to the computer accessing the program. It was cold but not too constricting. She could feel the hum of something, some kind of current running through it and she could tell her brain was already starting to react. Amazing how such a simple object could create something as all-encompassing as Beverly suggested. Deep down, Jo had trouble believing this was actually going to work. How could even the biggest genius create something that real? How could the crew not know they were stuck in a computer simulation?

"One other thing." Beverly hooked up the final cords and leaned in to give her some last minute instructions. Or so Jo thought. "In the program, you're dating Jack Carter and raising Allison's kids for the past few years."

Jo's eyes widened. She immediately questioned the jumble of words that came out of Beverly's mouth because she couldn't have heard what she thought she heard. There was always a damn catch.

"What!" she yelled, feeling the pull of her mind towards…towards…

* * *

Author's Note: Let's see how much I can power through and post tonight!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two  
Control: Part II**

"What!" Jo heard herself yelling into the air. The words echoed in the open space and she circled her immediate area quickly to assess where she was. She was definitely outside and she recognized her trusty blue car parked along the side of the road.

This was freaky. She hadn't known what to expect and she definitely had her doubts about how real this supposed program was going to be. What she saw in front of her, what she felt was well beyond anything she could have imagined. She touched the soft skin of her face, the smoothness of her hair, the roughness of her blazer before running her hand along the hood of her car. It was all so authentic. That it was the product of a computer program simulation running along the synapses in her brain made Jo extremely uncomfortable.

This technology was dangerous and it was in the wrong hands as far as she was concerned. When she got out, someone would have to deal with that. That is, if they got out. Or, put more bluntly, if she could get everyone out.

Remembering her mission, she did a more thorough visual check of the area. No one else was around but she had her phone in her hand as if she had just received a call or message. She looked down to see if anyone was on the line and, thankfully, the screen showed no open calls. However, the phone was defaulted to her text messages and she could see that she'd received one from Carter about five minutes ago.

_Prob w Zane. Meet Stn 15 to trblsht._

Troubleshoot? And what the hell were they doing all the way out at Station 15? Her immediate reaction was amusement at how Zane was a magnet for trouble no matter what the circumstances. But she bit back the warm feeing of familiarity, realizing how dire the situation was. If the Carter NPC was on to him, it was only a matter of time before that smart mouth of his got him eliminated and permanently so. Subtlety and caution were not exactly his strongest skills. She had to find him and quickly. She proceeded along the trail heading farther into the foliage, creeping along silently but trying to follow the fresh footprints apparent in the dirt.

There was no telling what she'd discover when she finally found her way to Zane. According to Beverly, he would think that four years had passed and that she was with Carter and raising Allison's kids. Just rolling the thought around in her brain made her cringe in embarrassment and apprehension. She knew Zane. If he thought she'd moved on after his disappearance, he'd be hurt but he'd do his best to cover it up by reverting back to that snarky, thoughtless asshole he pretended to be when she'd first encountered him in this timeline.

But she didn't have time to dwell on that complication. It sounded like Zane was in over his head and there was no way she would let a bunch of computer simulated projections mess with her man.

Jo halted, responding to the rustling of leaves in the distance. After stopping she heard the extended scratching again and she knew it wasn't random. Someone was running. She cocked her head and continued listening, taking several steps in the direction of the sound. No, two people were running. It was a chase! She cursed violently.

Calculating that they couldn't be that much farther ahead of her, she took off in the direction of the rapid footfalls while trying to remain quiet. As she moved along, she could hear the rustling and footsteps even clearer. This was definitely one person running after the other. She couldn't tell how far apart they were but the person in front didn't have too much of a lead.

Suddenly, the sounds ceased and Jo stopped with it, assessing the changed circumstances so she could plan her next move. The person doing the chasing had stopped to either gather their bearings or launch a counterattack of some sort. The other person had stopped too. Their intentions were just as unclear. Perhaps they were hiding or regrouping. Or maybe they were planning a counterattack of their own. Ultimately, Jo didn't care; she just needed to catch up with them before Zane got hurt. So instead of waiting for the action to begin again, she softly crept forward giving their probable location a wide berth.

A few minutes later, the rustling resumed, this time much closer and not in the manner of the previous chase. One of the men, Carter or Zane, chaser or chase-ee, was heading towards the other. Ah, a counterattack. She doubled her pace and crept around the area where the two men would likely meet.

Before she could find a stealthy way to peek in on the situation, she heard a muffled thump and short exclamation of pain before there was an obvious crumpling to the ground. One of them had been hit and she didn't feel any shame for hoping it wasn't Zane.

When she finally arrived at the clearing, she saw a man in a familiar uniform lying on the ground, and a pissed off looking Zane standing over him with a stick.

Jo's first thought upon seeing him was to note how damned good he looked, especially from behind. To her credit, she did briefly acknowledge that this was not the most appropriate observation for the situation. She watched as Zane pulled the gun from Carter's holster and cast aside the stick he'd used to knock the sheriff unconscious. So now he was armed; this was going to get tricky.

There had been no time to strategize or brainstorm about the specific steps for blowing up the Aestraeus, only time enough to identify the outcome. The tactics were left up to her and she had assured those left behind in Eureka that she was the best person for the job. Her preferred method would be to have the least amount of people involved; she thought she'd find Fargo or maybe Grace—the former because he'd be the most likely to believe her and the latter because she was the most sensible person to help get a job done. Despite training with them for several months, she didn't feel as if she knew any of the other crew members enough to trust them with something this important, even Holly. As for Allison and Zane—well, they were the people she'd most like to rely on but if what Beverly said was true, any contact with them would just get complicated. Seeing the situation unfold in front of her, she knew complications were now unavoidable.

She unhooked the gun from her side holster just in case but didn't kick off the safety. It probably wasn't the best plan tactically but it was just too weird for her to truly contemplate pulling a gun on her quasi-boyfriend.

However, she wouldn't have an opportunity to dissect this at all if she didn't get them all the hell out of this freakshow. It was now or never. She had things to do.

"Zane," she called out. He turned at the sound of her voice and his gun was immediately pointed at her head. She'd have to ask him later why he seemed so comfortable handling a firearm like that. But at the moment, she only cared about the overwhelming relief she felt seeing him standing there looking undeniably sexy in his tight jeans and leather jacket. It was only a projection of some sort created by a computer program. However, it represented him, alive and in the flesh somewhere. She just had to find out where.

On instinct, she raised her gun to match his stance, fingering off the safety. She imagined what they looked like standing there with guns pointed at each other and had to push down the absurd dark humor of their circumstances. His eyes were so cold looking at her. It hurt to feel that tension coming from him.

"I'm on to you, Lupo. I have no problem blowing you away so I suggest you drop that gun and join you boyfriend over there."

Jo bristled at his tone as well as him referring to Carter as her boyfriend. So Beverly hadn't been lying. And just as she'd thought, Zane had not taken that development well. At all. Her heart sank thinking of her mission. Things were not looking good.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three  
****Control: Part III**

"Zane," she repeated slowly. "Don't shoot. It's me, Jo. I know this is going to sound crazy but—"

"We're in a total immersion simulation program? I know." He seemed casual enough hitting the nail on the head like that. Jo knew better though.

She cocked her head to the side, glancing around briefly for escape routes and weak spots in case it was necessary. "Uh, yeah."

"Mmhmm, and you're a part of it." He pulled the hammer back on the gun without taking his eyes off of her. Again, the coldness unnerved her. She needed to think of something quick because he was totally serious about this.

"No! Wait!" she shouted holding her other arm out. "The Carter that's out cold on the ground right now, yes, he's part of it. But I'm not." A nervous laugh bubbled out as her mind raced with things she might say that could possibly convince him that she wasn't the enemy. "It's me, babe. You know me."

Zane shook his head. "Call me 'babe' again and you're going to be missing a few ones and zeroes. You're not my Jo and I don't want to know you."

A part of Jo melted a little at his possessive declaration. Nevertheless, she was still plenty aware that there was a gun pointed at her head.

Her frustration was starting to rise. "Look, my body is back at Henry's garage. He had to jack me into the program using a backdoor and a wireless connection. I replaced the Jo Lupo NPC—she doesn't exist in here anymore. There's only me and if you shoot me, I'm gone. The real Jo Lupo—your Jo—is gone. You need to drop the gun so I can get all of you the hell out of here. I imagine it's a lot to ask but you've got to trust me."

"That's not going to happen," he said shaking his head emphatically. "I get it. The program knew there was something up and changed tactics. Nice."

It concerned Jo that Zane's arm held steady. He hadn't shot her, which she was glad for, but he had no intention of believing a word she said. Maybe she was going to have to wound him to get him out of the way. The thought made her sick to her stomach but better wounded and out of the picture than all of them dead.

Jo practically growled in frustration. "Zane, I don't have time for this! We found the first place they were holding you but we didn't get there in time to rescue you." She tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. She needed to focus. "But you couldn't have been taken far. Henry and Carter are waiting for me to cause a thermal overload that will create a heat spike big enough to project the mainframe's IR signature. We find that spike and we find you."

She could tell that the wheels were turning in his head. He got that squinty, serious look whenever he was thinking big thoughts. Maybe she was starting to get somewhere with him.

"Henry, Carter and my team are ready to trace that signature. They're just waiting on me."

Zane didn't drop his gun but she noticed that he had taken his finger off the trigger. "What did you have in mind?" He was testing her. But she had the answers. Sort of.

"We gotta blow up the Astraeus." His eyebrows shot up in surprise obviously not expecting a plan of that magnitude. "Go big or go home," she added with a slight smile.

Zane rolled his eyes. "That's a nice ruse but how the hell are you gonna do that? That ship was made to take a pounding. And I know you like big guns, sweetheart, but I don't think you've got anything close enough to put a dent in that thing." The snark in his voice was grating. Jo reminded herself that she was lucky to still be able to hear that voice. And she was damn lucky that she might actually convince him that she was not part of the program so they could get on to more important things.

"You can shove your sweetheart. You know I hate that." He smirked and she tried hard not to match it with one of her own. "Henry says we need a, uh, it's…" It was on the tip of her tongue. There was so much to remember in those few minutes before she was jacked in. Zane continued to look unimpressed. "It needs to be constructed but I know I can't do it. I'll need help. It's called an, oh what is it…ionic—"

"Resonator!" he responded. That would do it." Yet he still trained his eyes on her suspiciously. "But just because that makes sense doesn't mean I think you're on the level. I already know about you so I'm expendable. This must be a trap of some kind."

Now it was Jo's turn to roll her eyes. "What do I need to do to convince you?"

Zane paused, no doubt pondering her question. As the moments stretched on she was scared that the answer would be that nothing she said would make a difference to him. That thought made her incredibly sad. She cared about him and she knew he cared about her once. It was devastating to see what one month in this simulation had destroyed between them. It made her feel as if they were back to square one; she was the cold security chief out to get him and he was the shell of a man she once loved.

He opened his mouth and then just as quickly closed it, having reconsidered his request. Shaking his head, he tried again. "Did you tell anyone how I proposed to you? I mean the other me?"

Jo was not expecting that to come out of his mouth, of the many questions he could have asked her. She didn't answer immediately she was so shocked. She blinked a few times trying to collect her thoughts. "Uh, no, I don't think anyone knows other than Carter since he was there. I doubt he'd tell anyone, not even Allison." She could see him reacting, if only slightly, to the sadness apparent in her eyes. "I didn't much like talking about that, you know." He didn't dispute that. Zane waited for something more, still holding the gun steady on her.

Jo sighed and continued. "You recreated when we first met. I was coming into the Sheriff's Office to change and you had decorated the cell with all that crap you bought on Carter's card." She laughed humorlessly, pain simmering right underneath. "You handed me a lingerie box and I made some stupid joke about trying on whatever you had gotten me. And then you were down on one knee, telling me that I'd made an honest man out of you; that we should make it official." Jo could feel the familiar moisture well up in her eyes. This was not the time, she inwardly screamed at herself.

He nodded but remained silent.

"Why that? I never even told you about it so you wouldn't know if I was lying or not?"

Zane dropped his head a little and sighed. "I asked because I wanted to know. That doesn't sound like my style at all."

Jo's heart sank. It seemed more and more likely that she'd have to take him out if the plan was going to work.

With an uncharacteristic hesitation, Zane continued. "But what he—I—said? I've thought that. About you. Not that I want to get married but that I liked who I was when I was with you and I wanted to give us a try. That's what I was trying to tell you before I left."

Jo's eyes softened. Damn him. He just had to go and make it that much harder for her to shoot him.

"What happened to your walkabout?" he asked changing tactics.

Jo deflated again at the mention of her disastrous trip. She'd wanted answers but all she got was one catastrophe after another before finally finding out that the worst possible thing that could have happened with the Astraeus mission had, in fact, transpired. She'd been too unsure of Zane and herself to hold on to him before he left and she turned around to discover that he may have been pulled from her forever.

Zane waited for an answer, not budging.

She didn't know what he wanted to hear and she didn't have the energy to try and figure it out. So she just spilled everything that came to mind. "I don't know what happened with my walkabout. It wasn't anything like how Taggert made it sound. I tried, you know, going somewhere but it never seemed to work out." She sighed, arm lax but still alert to his movements. "I went to the beach but that was all wrong and I got towed. I should have gone to the desert, that's the lesson I learned." She frowned and shook her head, still so annoyed with her decisions for those four weeks she'd wandered around. "Why didn't I just go to the damn desert! It was the same distance and maybe I would have learned something instead of wasting my time on that stupid rock with that stupid parking sign and that stupid cop who had no compassion. She knew exactly how many points that would add to my license."

By now, Zane was staring at her, expression unreadable but scrutinizing. Jo didn't notice though because she was building up to a right and good rant.

"So then I actually go to the desert and there's all these people there and that wasn't how I imagined finding out anything. And then I started second-guessing myself like maybe I should have headed north instead so I drove back the way I came for two days before deciding that was completely ridiculous." She took a deep, calming breath recalling what an idiot she felt like after those two days. It had been demoralizing. "Halfway back to Eureka and I turn around again and decide to go back to my childhood home. Because that's how this whole thing started, see? It was Wen's stupid device that showed me how long I've been letting other people in my life dictate how I see myself. I let my brothers do it and my superior officers. I let Sheriff Cobb and Carter do it. Even my old boyfriend Callister. I thought he loved me but he was a damn robot. And he left me." She'd raised her voice so much that now she was practically shouting at him. "And you left me too or you would have if I didn't do things how you wanted them. After everything that's happened this year, after being torn to pieces, I needed to believe in myself again. I needed it more than my job or my friends or even the man I can so easily love if I weren't so scared of it."

"Jo?" Zane said softly.

Jo had stopped paying attention to Zane a while ago. But if she had, she would have noticed that he'd dropped the gun he'd held on her and was staring wide-eyed with the hint of a smile on his face. After she came up for air, both parts flustered and agonized over the indecisiveness of her thoughts, she finally registered that she was no longer under attack. In truth she didn't even have her gun trained squarely on him anymore, so involved in her rant. She dropped her arm and felt the strained release of the muscles, so tense in those moments of standoff.

"Yeah?" she responded, hoping he'd make a decision quick about whether he could trust her. If he wasn't going to come around, she needed to use this respite to take him out and try her luck elsewhere. She was not going to lose him like this.

He turned the gun around and offered it to her. "You're cute when you're clueless. No computer version of you could come up with something that incoherent. Don't take this the wrong way but you kind of suck at self-reflection." That maddening grin appeared across his face and Jo hadn't seen something that frustrating yet that welcoming in such a long time. She walked up to him and reached for the gun but he pulled it away from her at the last minute. "Is it really you?"

She redircted her movements to grab his tight t-shirt underneath that leather jacket she loved so much. Pulling him towards her, she kissed him like she'd been dreaming about for the last four weeks, two days, twenty-one hours and forty-five minutes.

Zane froze at first and Jo was afraid that he'd pull away from her. She let go of his lips and moved to step back instead. Before she could move even a few inches, Zane had his arm around her, pulling her back to his mouth and devoured her like he had never expected to be able to do this again. He tasted her in that wonderfully thorough way he had of doing most things he set his mind to. And they stood there, both with gun in hand, savoring their moment of reunion as if the fate of nineteen other people weren't at hand.

A small sound several feet from them found them both immediately breaking apart and simultaneously training their guns on the mostly immobile sheriff lying on the ground. Back to business.

"It is really good to see you." She smiled brightly at him and he returned it just as sweetly.

TBC

* * *

Author's Note: That's all for tonight - technical issues with the site slowed me down a little but I didn't want to leave y'all hanging. I've got a plane to catch in about 5 hours so I'll post again from the road.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay. I've been unexpectedly without a good internet connection for the last few days. This next section was edited in Maryland, posted in New Jersey. I've got two more stops to hit up before I'm back home so lets see how much I can crank out. **_

_**I appreciate all of the reviews and alerts and for all of you reading along as I try to get this out of my head and onto computer screen. Many thanks. **_

* * *

**Chapter Four  
Control: Part IV**

Zane slowly stepped towards Carter and frowned. Jo was starting to get a little concerned about his animosity towards the sheriff. The fallout between them in the real world was definitely going to be an issue. Jo sighed and put her free hand on his shoulder. For now, dealing with Carter so they could get on to more important things was the greater problem.

"We need to do something about him. We can't have him tipping off the other NPCs that I'm not the real Jo."

"Agreed. And you were right. We're going to need help with the ionic resonator." He paused as if contemplating the various scenarios available to them. "Why don't I just shoot him?"

Jo gasped. "Seriously?"

"C'mon, he's not the real Carter. You said yourself that he's back at Henry's garage. Besides, I hate this guy," Zane added with an extra jerk of his gun and iciness in his voice.

Jo gave him a long look and it continued to sink in how traumatized he was by this Matrix simulation. He wasn't going to be the only one.

"Why don't we stow him away in his car with a nice sleep tranquilizer to keep him company. I'm sure I have some in my trunk." Even though she knew this Carter wasn't real, she wasn't sure it was the healthiest thing in the world for Zane to go killing a person in cold blood like that. If there's a threat, then sure, but even if it's fake, that kind of thing has a way of staying with you.

Zane scoffed at the idea. "Where's the fun in that?" Jo gave him a skeptical look and he stood down. "Fine. We do it your way." He walked over to the sheriff who was now definitely coming around. "How do you want to play this? He's going to think you're his loving, devoted girlfriend." She didn't miss his disgust at having to point that out.

"We play this clean," she said joining him beside Carter. "Give me his gun." Zane handed it over with only a little hesitation. She spun him around until he was facing her and tucked the gun into the inside pocket of his jacket. "He texted me, the virtual me, to come and get you. I'm here to give him an assist; the less he knows the better. We're going to have to get him back to the road though. And for that, you've got to be caught."

He leaned down and kissed her lightly, pulling back to wink at her. "Not a problem, babe."

* * *

While getting Carter incapacitated and safely stowed away in his jeep had been relatively easy, all things considered, it had still been stressful. Jo hadn't mentally prepared herself for how unnerving it would be to confront the NPC Carter. The first time he initiated one of his many little touches—to her arm, to the small of her back—she had to suppress the urge to shake him off. His subtle innuendo was even creepier, especially since she knew he was doing it to annoy Zane who was walking a few paces ahead of them with his hands over his head.

Zane was extremely tense, she could tell. She didn't blame him since the situation was completely absurd. But she could imagine that he'd still have some problems trusting her even with Carter's gun safely stowed in his jacket. They'd simply told him that Zane had thrown the gun away.

And after the shock of Carter's intimate overtures, she'd gotten into her role quite nicely knowing that he'd be particularly on alert if he suspected Zane had become aware of the program. Once he was comfortable with her, he talked freely of their next steps and how she'd have to eliminate him after conducting a thorough interrogation. The worst part was the way he said it, so matter of fact but with a compassionate regret that made her believe that this really could be Carter under darker, weirder circumstances. And he had a point; given Zane's history and bitter behavior of late, no one would question him being in custody. That last part had been Jo's observation and judging by the way he relaxed into her as he held his injured head, it had gone a long way towards keeping Carter in the dark.

They reached the cars and she ordered Zane to keep his hands up before moving to her trunk to get a first aid kit and the tranquilizers they'd need to subdue Carter.

"You move one inch Donovan and your ass meeting one of my bullets will be another item on your growing list of worries."

"Bite me Lupo. You and your boyfriend can both kiss my ass." She shouldn't be surprised at the vitriol she heard in his voice. She didn't blame him for his tone—he was stressed and this was the point where he'd really have to trust her.

Carter was leaning against the hood of his car keeping an eye on Zane but also nursing his bloody nose. She thought he'd be more out of it than he was. Something must be going on with the program and they would have to work fast.

"I may have been knocked around a little but if you pass me your gun, I can keep an eye on him while you get the first-aid kit. Or we could just get back to GD and have Allison take a look at me."

At the mention of the other woman's name, Jo turned sharply towards them, a glare penetrating his now defensive expression. "Why don't you stop telling me how to do my job? Or are you that eager to go see Allison."

This bit of diversion worked like a charm. Not for the first time, Jo thought how easy men could be sometimes.

Flustered, Carter slid into a classic deny and mollify mode. "Jo, that's not what I meant," he pleaded softly. She glanced briefly in Zane's direction as Carter turned himself fully away from him. Zane nodded slightly to let her know he was still on board. The amusement in his eyes revealed that he had picked up on her subterfuge and was impressed.

"Right," Jo responded ramping up the girly pissiness. "It seems like you find a lot of reasons to keep her company these days." She turned her back to him and yanked open her trunk, mindful to turn up the aggressiveness. "Don't think I haven't noticed how much time you two spend 'catching up.'"

"Uh Jo, you've got to know that we're just doing the best we can for Jenna's sake. And for the record, when I'm bleeding from my face, I think that's a legitimate reason to keep her company." Jo could tell he was trying to be patient with her but was also a little annoyed. That was good. Better to be annoyed at her than focused on Zane.

"We've got bigger problems here and I can fix you up quickly so we can take care of it. Besides, this station is GD property which means it's my jurisdiction. Don't get me wrong, I love working with you but maybe you still need to learn to back off sometimes."

Carter put his hands in his pocket and tensed. "Are we going to have this discussion again for what, the thousandth time?"

Jo had located the first aid kit but with Carter's attention now on her, she realized she needed to be careful not to tip him off. If worse came to worse, she'd say the tranquilizers were for Zane but it was a wildcard excuse that needed to be a last resort.

"Hey! Could you two lovebirds shut the hell up and get on with it. If you're going to kick me out of the Matrix, I'd rather just get to it." Just as he planned, Carter turned back towards him scowling and Jo quickly grabbed two tranquilizer darts and shoved them in her pocket. She didn't want to take him out for long. All they needed was enough time for a few fireworks and then the real Carter and Henry would hopefully get them out of there.

Jo turned around and cocked her gun at Zane again as a feigned reminder of who was boss. No words were necessary. And he was right; they needed to get on with it.

"Come here Jack," Jo said shortly but with, what she hoped was a thawing affection meant to pacify. Carter paused briefly, then smiled at her and followed her to his jeep. She felt a little guilty for what she was about to do despite knowing that this wasn't the real Carter. It wasn't going to stop her though. She dropped the arm holding the gun she had pointed at Zane and turned her attention to her fake boyfriend.

Three minutes later he was unconscious and tied up in the back with a tarp covering him. Even when she was secretly injecting him with the tranquilizer, she played the concerned girlfriend, frantically calling to him as he passed out from the drug. If he were to wake up and somehow escape, she didn't want him knowing that she'd switched sides.

"You are so good." Zane closed the trunk and moved to join her in walking towards her car. She raised an eyebrow to ensure him that she knew exactly how good she was. "We make an awesome team JoJo. A good ole computer simulated Bonnie and Clyde."

Jo laughed and motioned him to the other side of her car. "I wouldn't go that far. But we do seem to work nicely together when we want to," she added with a twinkle to her eye.

"And we play nicely together even better." He grinned back at her and got into the passenger seat so they could proceed with the next phase of their plan to get the hell out of there.

TBC

* * *

AN: I'll try to get the next section up tomorrow. I should have a solid internet hookup once I get on immobile ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five  
****Alt: Part I**

Jo and Zane immediately went to find Grace when they got back to GD and explained the situation to her. As they both had suspected and discussed on the way over, she was easily convinced and on board with their plan. Sure she'd had her moments of doubt but everything they were saying seemed to make sense to her, especially when she added her own strange dealings with Henry. After they pieced together a rough plan, Grace headed straight back to her lab to start work on the ionic resonator.

Zane was also trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with Fargo who, on his advice, had gone after Holly. When Jo explained what had really happened to her, he'd been crushed, not only because Holly was a friend but also because Fargo was his friend and he knew it would devastate the little guy. It made him even more angry and frustrated about their situation and it made him want that much more to get their plan underway so they could return to their lives and decimate whoever was responsible for this.

Next on their list was a talk with Allison. Although he had serious work to do on the resonator, their plan needed her help too—and this wasn't something Jo could handle on her own. There was no way that Allison would believe Jo's story given what she'd experienced in the Matrix and Zane couldn't blame her for that. It'd been hard for him too. And from what he'd just heard, it didn't seem like Grace had been having completely happy times either.

Jo walked beside him with purpose, so strong and brave but dreading this next encounter if the tension around her grim frown was any indication. He had an overwhelming urge to give her hand a squeeze for support like he'd done a few times back in the real Eureka. That was out of the question. But soon he'd get his chance when they escaped from here. Over the last twenty minutes, he'd second guessed himself dozens of times. He questioned whether he was letting himself fall for some elaborate trap perpetrated by the woman that had been his sworn enemy not so long ago. Maybe the sadness of losing her had made him so weak that he'd easily fall for her feigned yet passionate entreaties of wanting him. If he hadn't seen what he'd seen this morning, there was no way he'd have let himself become convinced about something as crazy as living in a total immersion simulated reality program.

But he didn't feel weak right now with her. Trusting her felt right. Even if he got burned for it, he'd rather flame out loving her rather than wallow another second in this shitty version of Eureka.

They turned the corner into the infirmary and spotted Allison going over something at her desk. When she looked up and saw who had come in, her eyes instantly became guarded and she braced herself as if there was a full on assault headed her way. Jo glanced at him worried. That she didn't want to have this conversation was clear but he was surprised at how nervous she was. If things weren't so serious, he'd find it amusing but he just smiled down at her to let her know that they'd get through this together. She immediately relaxed a little at that and it again confirmed to him that this was the right thing to do.

When they reached Allison, her frown had increased and now showed signs of hostility and confusion. To her credit, Allison did try to cover her reaction and offered a tight smile in greeting. "What's up?"

Zane looked at Jo and after an unspoken debate of expression, he spoke up. "Well, 'what's up' is us getting the hell out of here."

Allison took a step back in shock. "Like you two are running away together?" Anger then replaced shock and her wrath was directed squarely at Jo. "What about Jack? What about Jenna?"

Jo held her ground. "All of this is fake. The town, the people, all except for the crew of the Astraeus, you and us," she finished motioning at Zane. "We're inside of a computer program—"

"And it hasn't been four years, it's been a month." Zane interrupted excitedly.

Taking in the sternness of her expression, Zane calculated that this was not going well at all, not that he thought it would be easy. But maybe he'd underestimated Allison because she seemed pretty pissed. He figured she'd be more shocked and curious than angry at the idea of everything not being as it seemed. Not so much.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Jo would not be deterred despite Allison's bitter tone. "Allison, I understand what you've been going through. I know what it's like to blink and your life is turned upside down. You know that." She glanced at Zane meaningfully. "But the real Jack Carter is out in the real world and he loves you. He's with the real Kevin and the real Jenna who I saw this morning at Café Diem throwing Cheerios at Andy and still refusing to walk anywhere but in S.A.R.A.H."

The mention of Andy made both him and Allison flinch a little. Jo was about to comment on that before Zane spoke up again. 'Bigger issues' Carter would say if he were here; the real Carter anyway. "We need you to trust us. Can you do that?"

"Honestly no," Allison said.

"I bet this would have gone differently if Carter had been the one jacked into the program." Jo's frustration was starting to simmer to the surface. She was antsy and so was he; he needed to go give Grace a hand with the ionic resonator.

But he couldn't help an easy snipe at the good sheriff. "Yeah, if he'd been the one jacked in here, he would have probably tipped your NPC off in a matter of seconds. And I don't see him passing along elaborate information about building an ionic resonator—not without writing it on his hand or committing it to song or something."

She opened her mouth to dispute him and defend her friend but thought better of it. He tried to push down the bitterness about her taking Carter's side on anything. Instead she conceded. "Yeah, you're probably right. He'd get the job done though and that's what we've got to do. And we don't have much time," she added turning her attention back to Allison.

Allison had been looking back and forth between the two, not so much angry anymore as confused and annoyed. Zane was starting to worry. "Adjusting to this reality has not been easy for me," she explained mostly to Jo. "Missing all these years with my kids, seeing you with Jack—"

"This isn't reality!" Jo insisted indicating the room around them. She then gestured between her and Zane. "We're reality, not me and Carter," she said with disdain.

Zane grinned at her. "Aww, Josefina…"

She rolled her eyes at his jest. "Shut up." But he could see the hint of a smile.

"I wish I could believe this," Allison sadly offered.

Zane's expression softened as he took in the broken woman in front of him. He felt for her, he really did. This situation had been the hardest on her. "You _can_ believe this. We're going to get through it together. How about this: let's go to Grace's lab and talk to her." The look of hope on her face was clear as was the heartbreaking caution that wouldn't allow her to entertain the easy out from their situation "Jo, you go find Fargo and meet us there."

Jo looked between them, expression unreadable. Allison was her friend and he could tell she hadn't fully prepared herself for this reaction, this hostility. "Okay. Good luck," she added quietly. She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm before she got too far.

"Hey, I believe you. We're going to do this and you're going to get us out of here."

Jo smiled sadly but with determination. "Yes I am. No matter what." She glanced back at Allison and then headed out the door.

Zane turned back to Allison and guided her in the other direction so that they could head to Grace's lab and get to work on the resonator. He rushed her down the hallway trying not to rush so much as to draw attention to them.

"Do you really believe this nonsense? After everything we've gone through; everything she's put us through?"

Zane winced. Trusting Jo again was new and he had his lingering doubts. But he knew this was her. Truthfully, he'd known since the moment he saw her. She looked exactly the same but her eyes had said it all, trained on him from above the barrel of her gun. Matrix Jo was cold and distant. She reminded him a lot of the old Jo that he loved to hate before the time shift. No matter how much she insisted that they could be friends, there was nothing inviting about the proposition, nothing sincere.

But when he saw this Jo pulling a gun on him, her eyes had been how he remembered. They were focused but soft with relief and discomfort. He could sense her indecision and her urgency to get him on her side. Most of all he could sense that warm affection that he loved waking up to in the mornings when she'd linger in his bed before sprinting off to GD. That warmth was the last thing he'd feel before kissing her and losing himself in it.

Plus, she'd totally checked him out and he was well aware that she really loved this leather jacket on him.

In the face of all that, and of things he'd been seeing all morning, he wasn't going to deny what was in front of him. And he sure as hell wasn't going to pass up a chance to take back his real life. Now he just needed to convince Allison.

"I know it's hard to grasp. When I got zapped by Martha last month, I saw these flashes of light and people standing over me. I thought it was just a dream. Then I saw a collision mesh error this morning and fake Carter de-res'ed right in front of me. The issue with Jo aside, there's also Holly's sudden disappearance. So yeah, I'm pretty convinced. And simulation Carter practically admitted what was going on before Jo and I took him out back in the woods."

"Took him out!" Allison shouted.

"Shhhh! You want to get us busted? Trust me, it's not pretty." He looked around nervously but no one seemed to be paying them much attention. "Jo confirmed that they killed Holly."

Allison stopped cold. "They what! Who?"

Zane continued to hurry her along. They were almost to Grace's lab and they'd be able to talk more freely there. "The Consortium. Beverly Barlowe. Senator Wen. They're all in on this. But apparently after Wen basically killed Holly, she fired Beverly who then decided to switch sides."

He could tell Allison had a million questions but he didn't have time for more than a few and they all needed to be about constructing the ionic resonator. "Allison, I know you don't trust Jo. Hell, I wouldn't either if I were you. But you can trust me. And Grace." He turned her towards him as they waited for the elevator so he could look her in the eye. "Are you really going to fight me over this crap-ass version of Eureka? Do you really believe there's a version of reality where Carter doesn't choose you?"

As they rode the elevator, the tears in Allison's eyes led Zane to hope he was getting through to her. "Your kids have been waiting for their mom to come home for a month. Not four years but one month. Carter's been breaking laws and combing the universe looking for you. Henry too. Jo can help us get home. We've just gotta do a little leg work now."

They reached Grace's lab and saw her standing next to a tray upon which numerous gadgets were placed askew. Allison sighed, looking so tired, and walked over to the other woman. She glanced briefly at the different items Grace had collected and the gradual spark of curiosity was enough to inspire a little relief in Zane.

"What did she do? Plant a passionate kiss on you, proving that she was the same woman you left before the launch?"

It hadn't gone down completely like that but his answering grin couldn't deny that it had been a factor. "Like that wouldn't have worked for you and Carter," he replied smirking. Allison's answering grin didn't hold any objection.

Directing her attention to Grace she asked, "So we really are lying somewhere unconscious? Everything we've experienced since the launch, none of that happened? You two actually believe this?" They both nodded at her with conviction.

"So I haven't lost all that time with Kevin and Jenna; or with Jack?" Allison's plea couldn't mask the building hope he sensed in her tone.

"Uh, no. Throwing Cheerios at Andy this morning, remember?" Zane joked. He joined the two women and began assembling several of the parts Grace had set out for him. They were going to do this. They were going to get out of here. "Jo is going to get us home," he said glancing up at her. "I know she will. Carter and Henry are going to make sure of it too," he added turning briefly to Grace.

Suddenly, Fargo came tearing around the corner and into the lab, Jo in tow as if chasing him. "Guys," he loudly whispered, waiting for the doors to close. "We're trapped in the Matrix!"

"We know," they all answered together.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**  
**Alt: Part II**

Jo was scoping out the Astraeus site and frowning at all the security and personnel in the area. Fargo and Zane were behind her fiddling with the ionic resonator they'd pieced together from spare parts; Allison was hopefully on her way back with Grace to install the remote detonator. Everything was going according to plan so far and Jo couldn't wait to get the show on the road.

She glanced back briefly to assess the guys' progress, lingering a bit longer than necessary on Fargo. Jo was a little worried about him, or more specifically, she was afraid of what would happen to Fargo when they got out of here. She'd glossed over how Holly really came to exit the Matrix in order to keep him focused. He was definitely concerned about Holly but she could tell that he was also fascinated by the technology that made this whole ridiculous situation possible and it kept his mind from wondering too much about her. It didn't feel nice hiding the truth from him but it was for the greater good—or so she told herself. Jo supposed her guilt wouldn't matter if none of them made it out of this simulation alive.

Thankfully, Fargo had finally stopped freaking out at every little piece of simulated detail and was working with Zane to complete their DIY bomb. It had been both interesting and weird for her seeing all the updated photos and mementos lying around S.A.R.A.H when they'd gone to get the fuel cell from her backup generator. The attention to detail was creepy and there was no A.I. to speak of. Fargo had looked a little upset about the latter issue when Jo pointed it out and she couldn't wait to hear the story behind that.

Taking a good look around the living room as Fargo worked, she really could believe she lived there with Carter and Allison's kids as much as she hated to admit it. She knew the GD personnel files were detailed but seeing them used for this kind of deception topped even her heightened fears about a security breach. There was a stack of her monthly Guns & Ammo magazine on the table next to one of Jenna's coloring books; her firearms collection hung in a secure case on the far wall. Her favorite quilt, the one her mother had made for her when she was born, was thrown over the back of the couch. There were even pictures of her with Jenna and Kevin. And there were pictures of her with Carter. That had been the most disturbing.

She had tried not to think too much about it and truthfully, there hadn't been a lot of time for pondering the circumstances of the simulated Jo Lupo's life. But what made her most uncomfortable is that, despite her protestations, it wasn't so crazy how things had played out. If she thought she'd lost Zane a second time, especially when she'd left things the way she had between them, there was no telling what unhealthy decisions she might make. Her loneliness after the time shift had been hard enough. Couple that with Carter losing Allison after finally getting to be with her? She could see herself going into hyper-nurture mode and thinking that being needed and helpful was the same thing as being in love.

And although it wasn't like she fantasized about Carter, she had once or twice wondered about him—about them together. It didn't seem too out of order when they had been living together and, for a while, were sulking about their lost loves over a beer. But Allison and Zane were still in the picture then and they both were hopelessly hung up on their respective partners. Soon enough, Carter and Allison got their act together and Zane surprised her with that kiss that stirred up all kinds of trouble. It was the best kind of trouble, at that, she thought smiling.

Hearing Allison come running up behind her out of breath and flustered, she schooled her features and focused her attention back on the mission at hand. Allison stopped next to her and took a moment to catch her breath. "Grace was delayed by Henry and if he suspects something—"

"She'll cover," Jo responded with a reassuring smile. She briefly raised and then lowered her binoculars before passing them to Allison.

Zane handed the device over to Fargo and walked up to their look-out point to stand beside Jo. He was extremely tense she could tell. He didn't like the idea of her going into the ship without backup. Jo didn't like it either but Zane was just going to have to be irritated because risking anyone else for a relatively quick but dangerous task was not on the table.

"Without Grace we don't have a remote detonator," he murmured in her ear.

"So it won't work!" She looked behind her towards Fargo who was still fiddling with the controls and then scowled at Zane. This couldn't be happening. They'd gone to all this trouble for it not to work!

"No, it'll work," Allison assured her, "you'll just have to detonate it manually."

Jo didn't even try to hide her exasperation. "Seriously? Manually?"

Zane rubbed her back to calm her down. "Just stuff this baby into the engine core, flip that switch, and get the hell outta dodge. You can do this in your sleep, Commando Jo." Of course he had jokes. Apparently, it helped alleviate his worry given that he was still rubbing circles on her back. "This kind of deadline is more reason to have backup close-by though."

"Nice try but not a chance, Donovan. How much time?" she asked going into military efficiency mode. Knowing Eureka, it was going to be close, and as she'd explained to him numerous times, there was no way in hell she was letting Zane get anywhere near that explosion.

Fargo continued to configure the controls on the side of the device. "I could rig a detonation delay. That should buy you 10, 12 seconds." He handed the device up to Zane who handed it to her. She rolled her eyes at the confirmation that she had a ridiculously short amount of time to get the job done. But she'd seen worse odds in her time.

She raised herself up, device in hand and began walking towards the landing site.

"Go get 'em, babe," Zane called after her in a stage whisper.

* * *

Jo walked briskly into the Astraeus taking the same path she'd walked dozens of times before the launch, pre- and post-withdrawal. She noted the various military personnel posted throughout the ship and nodded to a few so as not to appear suspicious. Apparently, it wasn't unusual for her to be conducting spot security checks in the area. She held the resonator in her hand as if she knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going.

She also wanted to ensure she had a clear path out of the ship when the time came. Ten seconds was enough time to get out but there was no margin for error. There was an abundance of personnel of course but no obstructions as far as she could tell. Therefore, the plan was to basically follow Zane's suggestion to plant the damn bomb and book it. There wasn't much finesse necessary and she was all about keeping things simple.

Reaching the engine core, she inspected the resonator and was leaning over to place it securely into the access panel when she heard hard footsteps approaching behind her. Jo's pulse quickened and she mentally calculated the odds of her detonating the device and making a quick getaway before the intruder reached her.

"Chief Lupo. I wasn't expecting you. Business on the premises?" A stern looking military officer stood a few feet away. He appeared curious but not suspicious.

Luckily Jo had opted to stall rather than risk a premature detonation. She forced herself to relax and straightened her posture, holding the unauthorized device securely but in plain view. She didn't recognize this particular Matrix construct but no matter; she knew how to handle situations like this. After all, she was the boss. It wouldn't do to look squirrely.

"Just responding to a report of a minor but irregular power surge." That explanation seemed simple enough to her. Even if it didn't make sense, it wouldn't make a difference soon anyway.

"I didn't hear of any problem," he said taking a step towards her. Jo tried to keep herself from reacting as she gripped the resonator tighter in her hands. She was so not in the mood for this.

"I just heard about it five minutes ago and was headed out here anyway. It's not a security risk, just one of the analysts being overly cautious." The officer stopped his advance, possibly considering the strangeness of her presence and request. Jo could admit that it wasn't her best subterfuge. Her protocol in the real world was to call ahead if there was a matter worthy of her personal attention. She'd just have to go with this though and hope for the best.

"To make this easier on all of us, what you can do is check the aft power reserve units. Just ask the technician in that section to run a quick diagnostic. Let's cover all the bases."

The officer looked down at the device in her hand and then back up at her. "What have you got there?" he asked pointing. "Anything I should be concerned about?" She frowned, clearly not happy that he was going to be that kind of a distraction.

"It's a power distribution recalibrator," she replied, making something up. "Just in case I happen to find anything out of the ordinary." Needing to hurry things up, she decided to change tactics. "You are aware that I trained to be a part of the Astraeus mission and am well-versed on many of the ship's systems, including how to repair power irregularities." It was his turn to wince at her sarcastic tone but she wasn't through with him. "Now if you're done playing twenty questions, I'd really like to get through with this sometime today so I can go back to more important work. You don't mind do you?"

Obviously acknowledging the warning in her words, the officer nodded crisply, clearly uncomfortable. "Yes ma'am—I mean no ma'am. Aft power reserves, I'll get right on it." He turned and hurried back down the walkway.

Jo rolled her eyes and turned back to the engine core. She started to lean in, this time determined to get this job done, but again heard footsteps behind her. She backed out once more, now very annoyed. "Get lost on your way to the back of the ship or are you still trying to do my job for me?" If she had more time, she'd give this guy a real dressing down on principle.

"Don't tell me you're still on about that," came a very familiar voice.

Stepping out of the access panel, she found herself standing about six feet from Sheriff Jack Carter, nose still crusty with blood and looking much more alert than the last time she had seen him. And unfortunately, he was effectively blocking her exit off the ship.

"Hi honey," he said in a cheerful but menacing tone. "You need help with something?"

TBC...

* * *

AN: I'll try to squeeze in one more chapter tonight if I don't fall asleep on my keyboard.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**  
**Alt: Part III**

Zane dropped the binoculars from its view of the Astraeus and sighed. "She's been in there too long," he said for the second time.

Allison put a hand on his arm in sympathy. He knew she could relate to what he was going through. This kind of scenario was practically a weekly occurrence with her and Carter. "It hasn't been that long Zane. She'll get it done."

He smiled weakly and then looked at his watch again, noting the extra seconds that had passed. It wasn't like anything seemed out of the ordinary and the shit was probably going to hit the fan any second now. But he thought things would go much quicker than they were. It had been a full five minutes since she'd left. It wasn't that complicated for her to locate the core and set the detonator. There could be many reasons for the delay but he was inclined to think the worst after the day he was having.

And there was also the issue of Grace's disappearance. She hadn't shown up and she still wasn't answering her PDA. When he and Jo had first discussed the situation with her, she confided that Henry had been acting very odd lately, mostly concerning her work on the Astraeus mission. It seemed fairly harmless in the beginning but he had gotten more and more aggressive about it in the last week or so. When she left to go pick up the remote detonator, she hadn't seemed worried about Henry hurting her. Given her delay, he wasn't so sure.

"It hasn't been that long actually," Fargo offered, also trying to alleviate the other man's unease. "I once did a paper in grad school on how humans process time relative to—" Fargo whipped his head around and then turned more fully towards the parking area designated for the security teams and crews working on the ship. "Uh oooh."

Allison and Zane followed his gaze and, even from their distant vantage point, they could make out a familiar jeep racing towards the entrance of the ship.

Zane's eyes widened with panic. "Shit!" He passed the binoculars to Allison and stood to run down the side of the hill. "I knew she needed backup."

Fargo grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back before he could get too far. "What are you doing? You'll get killed down there, if not by Carter then by the explosion."

Zane looked at his friend in disbelief. "Are you serious? I'm not going to just leave her to get busted by Carter. He wanted to kill me this morning. If he's here then he might suspect Jo and he'll kill her too, maybe before she can set off the ionic resonator. I've got to get to her."

Fargo held on to Zane's arm. He could hold his ground when he wanted to it seemed. "If anything does happen, we're going to need you to get out of here. Have some faith in Jo. She'll get herself out of this. She'll—"

"—or she'll get herself killed trying. She said that if we die in here, then we die out there," he said pointing to the hypothetical reality waiting for them if their mission was a success. "She doesn't know he's here and he's going to ambush her. I will not let her die in here."

Allison pulled her PDA sharply from here ear. "She's not answering her phone. Her proximity to the resonator must be jamming the signal." Seeing the two men struggling, she frowned and moved to block Zane's way. "Hey, you're not going down there. Are you going to get yourself killed instead?" Allison shouted at him. "Do you think Jo wants that?" Her eyes softened with worry. "Let her handle this. She knew the risks and she did not want you to be one of them."

Zane glared at the both of them. "Would you be saying the same thing if it was the person you loved in there? If it was Carter or Holly?"

He stopped cold right then as he recalled Holly's fate; the fate that Fargo still had no clue about. That last shot definitely made him feel like an asshole but he was panicking. They hadn't seen what Carter admitted to. They didn't realize how easy it was for these NPCs to brazenly take any of them out without a second thought if they identified them as a threat. "You guys don't understand. I won't let her die in here," he repeated quietly.

"Jo's our friend too," Fargo said defensively. "Friends for longer than you. She'd kick our asses good if we let you go after her." Zane looked back at the shorter man still gripping his arm and also at Allison pleading with him not to put himself in harm's way.

Glancing down the hill, he saw Carter's car stop and watched the man stroll around like he hadn't been beaten and drugged only a couple of hours ago. He turned towards one of the security officers and had a short conversation before climbing up the entrance to the ship.

Tensing up, Zane forcefully ripped his arm from Fargo's grasp. "Too bad none of you get a say in this. Not even her." He didn't spare them another thought as he took off down the hill towards the ship; towards Jo.

* * *

For several moments everything was still around Carter and Jo, the two staring at each other silently. Carter had his hands in his pocket obviously waiting for some kind of answer. Jo didn't back away as she gripped the resonator at the entrance to the access panel.

"Something you want to tell me, Jo?" he asked. She just stared at him. Really, what kind of response would be remotely appropriate in the situation?

He stood there expectantly and when it was clear that Jo wasn't in the sharing mood, he continued speaking, hands remaining casually in his pockets. "I'm just asking because I was a little worried. Somehow after we left the woods with Zane, I ended up in the back of my jeep with my hands tied behind my back and that nasty, nauseous feeling you get when someone hits you with a tranquilizer dart."

Jo swallowed roughly. She hated not knowing where he was going with this. Was he genuinely worried about her or was it some kind of bluff? There was something definitely off about him and it did not bode well for her.

Carter tilted his head, scrutinizing her as he explained himself. "There was no sign of you or Zane so I thought the worst, of course. He was on to what we're doing here and even though it seemed unlikely, I was afraid he had some backup in taking us out. I called Henry and he didn't know anything at the time but I found out a little while ago that he caught Grace sneaking around the garage looking for a remote detonator." He chuckled, his eyes dancing with a manic light. "He had the crazy idea that some folks around here were trying to make an ionic resonator. I know! Like I said, it's crazy?"

He met her stoic stare with one of his jokey expressions meant to mollify but actually doing the exact opposite.

"But the only place that would do any good would be in the Astraeus. Pretty impressive figuring that one out. So I drive all the way over here expecting another run-in with Zane or Fargo—poor, grieving, heartbroken Fargo," he mocked. "Or maybe it's Allison that's miserable enough to try something so stupid and reckless. But no. Who do I find inside standing by the engine core but my Jo."

Hearing the sinister possessiveness in his voice, Jo controlled her recoil. The gravity of the situation hit her square in the face. This was not the man she'd known for almost five years. He was not even close to the actual Carter.

She'd spent the last couple of hours marveling at how authentic the simulation felt, from how she perceived her environment to the strange yet plausible extrapolation of one possible path for her four years in the future. But looking at this stranger in the body of her best friend and mentor, this world couldn't have felt less real to her.

"And what does my Jo have with her?" he asked rhetorically, oblivious to Jo's disgust. "Well, I'm just the town sheriff but it looks an awful lot like an ionic resonator to me. Isn't that something." By now, the faux-cheerful grin he'd been taunting her with was gone. All that was left was a cool, simmering anger. "So I pat myself on the back for being right from the beginning. It looks like Zane did have backup. And you're not my Jo. You're _his_ Jo," he practically spat out.

Feeling the tension and the danger build, Jo weighed her options. She still had her gun on her and could shoot him but not without shuffling around the ionic resonator that she held with both hands. She noted that he'd somehow secured another gun and it sat in his holster, which was unclipped. She was certainly a better marksman than him but it wasn't a sure thing that she'd get a shot off before him if it came to that. Plus, he was blocking her get-away exit. Ten seconds was not enough time to struggle with him, hope she came out the victor and then clear the explosion zone safely.

The alternative sucked too. There was another route down the hallway behind her. However, it would mean circling back through the crew quarters before meeting up at the sole passageway leading to the front exit of the ship—she had to count on Carter knowing that. Doing that in ten seconds or less was next to impossible, even without leaving behind a crazy, simulated bad guy. She'd also have to factor in Carter giving chase, or worse, retrieving the detonator and somehow destroying it before it could go off and blow up the ship. She wouldn't be surprised if an enhanced Matrix Carter was capable of that, especially if he was in high security alert mode.

The last option was that she could detonate the ionic resonator and do nothing. She didn't want to die and that's what would surely happen if she detonated the bomb without a plan to get out. But what was her situation compared to the twenty other people stuck in this program? They were geniuses and brilliant scientific minds; they were mothers and fathers; many were her friends and one was her lover and so much more if she could work up the courage to embrace it. Thinking of Zane, he'd called her a grunt with a gun; she was a protector by nature. It was a no-brainer, really.

She had to detonate the bomb no matter the consequences to her.

As the seconds ticked by, she gradually swept her gaze over this version of Carter to assess the man in front of her. She paused, narrowed her eyes and nodded slightly as she made her final choice.

"See, it's a funny, funny thing," she began conversationally. He raised his eyebrows in expectation and removed his hands from his pockets to cross his arms. Jo's eyes flashed to his gun and she licked her lips nervously. She looked down at the device in her hand; it was booted up and active, just waiting for her to flip the switch.

Seeing movement from Carter's shooting arm, she shrugged. "Actually, I got nothing."

Jo activated the detonator and threw the ionic resonator into the engine core, barely registering the confusion on Carter's face before her ears rang from the intense explosion of sound.

TBC...

* * *

AN: Thanks again for the reviews and alerts. It absolutely keeps me motivated to crank this out, especially when I was on the road and sometimes more inclined to laze away on Netflix rather than work on this. I would have had this done quicker but decided to change directions a bit based on some helpful feedback. But that caused a slew of edits, etc., etc.. Y'all know how it goes. More soon!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight  
****Alt: Part IV**

Zane ran across the dusty lot to the ship as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. There was still no sign that an explosion was imminent and no sign of Jo at all.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary and that worried him more for some reason. As best he could tell, Carter had entered the ship about three minutes ago and it seemed like an eternity. The only solace he could think of was that Carter more than likely didn't know where Jo was headed and taking the time to locate her would buy some time. As he passed by Carter's jeep, he felt for the sheriff's gun that still sat snug in his pocket where Jo had placed it earlier. He'd pull it out once he was inside the ship to avoid anyone seeing what he was up to.

Walking up the ramp, he noted that if he was overreacting and Jo had set off the ionic resonator, there was a good chance that he'd be toast soon. It was a risk worth taking to him though. He wasn't going to leave her in there without backup and if it turned out that she needed him then all the better. It would give him plenty to gloat about later. Besides, he was taking the same route she would for the fastest get-away off the ship. If the resonator had been detonated, he'd run right into her and follow her out.

Everything seemed business as usual inside as well. No one spared him a second glance. He tried to avoid any security personnel as best he could. From what Grace had told him, this area was now classified—even she didn't have access to the ship or its data. With the NPCs possibly in the know about his newfound awareness, there was no telling what kind of extreme reaction he might get from them. He had no interest in finding out either.

Zane walked straight to the access ramp for Pod Five and stopped. This was where the central network was located. He was usually a spontaneous, go-with-the-flow kind of guy—it drove Jo crazy while simultaneously turning her on, or so he liked to think. However, with the stakes so high, now was one of the few times he was willing to opt for caution. Listening through the opening for some kind of indicator that Jo was okay, all he heard was silence. She should be almost right below him. He frowned and quietly backed away. He decided that instead of entering the engine core corridor from above as was the usual practice, he would take a right and approach the area below from the side stairwell, further away from the main access hatch. It was a risk deviating from the best possible escape route but the growing tension in his gut told him that something wasn't right. On the now unlikely chance that Jo had set off the resonator, he was a goner anyway.

But he hadn't heard anything except the very faint sound of retreating footsteps that weren't going fast enough to be Jo trying to escape a bomb. That meant that she wasn't where she should be—or that she had been somehow compromised.

Quickly bypassing the entrance to the crew quarters, he continued to listen for anything out of the ordinary. Still nothing. There weren't even any personnel around but Zane was going to happily take that bit of luck. It did make sense. There wasn't much scientific information to be gleaned from the crew's empty personal space.

Silently circling back to the engine core from the side stairwell, he could see the light shining down through the open hatch from where he had just come. As he inched slowly ahead, the first sounds from that general area reached him. It was a voice; a deep voice that definitely wasn't Jo's. Taking a few more tentative steps closer, he stopped to listen again and his blood ran cold.

Carter.

He slid the gun from his pocket and held it at his side. Creeping closer, he could definitely confirm that it was Carter talking. And from the few words he could pick up, he was absolutely on to Jo's deception.

"… _trying … ionic resonator …"_

"… _run in with … Fargo poor …. Fargo …"_

"… _stupid and reckless … inside … engine core …"_

"… _my Jo …"_

Zane grimaced hearing those last words and his temper flared up once again. It surprised him how fiercely he hated the man. This maniac had chased him and practically threatened to kill him just a few hours ago. He had been the NPC responsible for murdering Holly according to Beverly Barlowe's intel. He'd been a jerk to Allison; a callous douchebag to Fargo.

And no matter what anyone said, this dick had stolen his girl. As far as Zane was concerned, it was on. He quietly pulled the hammer back on Carter's gun and snuck the remaining distance down the corridor. There was no backing down now.

The actual engine core was still a ways away but he could now see the edges of Carter's shoulder from where he stood; the man was only a few feet in front of him and slightly to the left. And he was definitely blocking any chance of Jo making the safest exit from the Astraeus. Frustrated, Zane realized he needed to get nearer to make sure Jo was okay. He glanced over to the area by the metal stairs that provided the primary access to this section. It was partly lit through the open hatch so he didn't want to get too close but he also wanted a good shot at Carter.

Thankfully, the sheriff was so busy having his Scooby Doo moment with Jo that he was completely oblivious to his presence behind him in the shadows.

When Zane positioned himself almost directly behind Carter, he smiled at the vision that greeted him. Holding herself tall like the ex-Special Forces badass that she was, stood his Josefina. She had the resonator in both hands—so no easy access to her gun—and it was lit up indicating that she'd activated it but hadn't flipped the detonator switch yet.

Even with the distance between them, he had no problem picking up on the coldness she directed at this version of Carter. Oblivious to the man sneaking up behind him, Carter was still talking to Jo, or mocking, rather. This time, Zane picked up every word.

"It looks like Zane did have back up." Zane didn't miss the quiet anger in the other man's voice. "And you're not my Jo. You're _his_ Jo."

'_Damn straight, lawdog,'_ Zane thought to himself.

Jo's expression held that icy steel that she hadn't broken since he'd walked up on them. There was a determination to her. One way or another, that ionic resonator was going to go off and she would give their friends out in the real world a chance to rescue them. He could tell her wheels were turning though: should she make a run for it? Should she stay and sacrifice herself? There was no way in hell, he was letting her take option number two.

The silence between the two enforcers held, that is, until he saw a tentative movement from Jo. She cocked her head slightly to the side and took in the figure standing in the way of her escape. She was sizing up her situation. In doing so, she narrowed her eyes in his direction and he could see her mouth tighten slightly.

She had spotted him. And she was pissed.

But she could yell at him about following her later after they both got out of there safely. He raised his gun up behind Carter's head, still a few feet away, and nodded to her. She nodded slightly right back and fixed her stare at Carter. Everything was set. All she had to do was flip the switch.

"See, it's a funny, funny thing," she said casually as if she didn't have a bomb in her hands, a crew to save and ten seconds to keep herself, and now him, alive. It wasn't the time or the place for distractions but he found that incredibly hot. She licked those luscious lips of hers before looking down at the ionic resonator and shrugging.

"Actually, I got nothing."

As if in slow motion, he watched Carter's arm move to his gun just as she activated the resonator and chucked it into the engine core hard enough to ensure that there would be no retrieving it before it went off. The next moment, the corridor was filled with a series of piercing explosions. But Zane hardly heard these loud blasts from his gun when they hit Carter point blank and brought him to his knees.

He wasted no time feeling anything but satisfaction over it.

"Let's move," he shouted to Jo who had already pushed past the downed Carter to take the hand he extended towards her. He couldn't find words to describe the relief of feeling her skin against his. The imminent danger, the adrenaline, the short-lived relief of enjoying her warm and alive next to him; even if it was only a few simulated synapses in his brain telling him so, it was better than sex, better than anything. And it would be his last thought if they didn't run as fast as they could out of the ship.

Of more concern was that even with a series of bullets to the back of the head, the bad guy he just shot wasn't dead. As they climbed the hatch staircase, Zane caught sight of the Carter NPC on his hands and knees, blood gushing down his back. But he was rising to his feet as if he'd only had the wind knocked out of him instead of a clip-full of bullets projected into his virtual brain. He was also flickering and de-resing all while struggling to stand.

As she followed behind him at full speed, Jo must have seen it too judging by how her grip on his hand tightened. "You've gotta be kidding me," she muttered loudly.

"Yeah, just what we needed, a fucking Terminator in the Matrix," Zane shouted back to her as they sprinted out of the ship. He smirked morbidly, imagining how he could pitch that to Hollywood when they got out of this stupid virtual reality. Such nonsense had to be his stress talking. Whatever had happened with Carter didn't matter anyway; that particular NPC was about to get a front row seat for a Matrix-busting thermal explosion. Hopefully, they'd get a partial cascade failure to finish him off right.

About three seconds after clearing the shuttle, he felt the massive explosion at his back. The momentum lifted him into the air yet he refused to let go of Jo's hand still gripping his tightly. As his shoulder hit hard on the ground, he immediately slammed against the softness of Jo rolling with him as they landed, kicking up dust and dirt along the way but never breaking apart. Once their forward momentum ceased, in unison, they scurried away a few more feet from the massive fireball forming where the ship once existed.

He rolled over and stared in shock as the fireball explosion slowed almost to a halt. Instead of spreading, the scene in front of them shimmered, shattered and broke way to…nothingness. It was like watching the world splinter off into a black hole. Zane scrutinized this for a few seconds and then forgot about it. Instead his gaze immediately turned to the woman underneath him as he moved to cradle her lovely face in his hand. She loosely grasped his wrist, holding him to her and caressing his scratched up skin with her thumb.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

She blinked up at him and smiled before nodding. "You are in so much trouble for following me." He laughed at her amused annoyance. Of course, he had predicted her displeasure over that. "But thanks for the back-up," she added.

"My pleasure." They both grinned at the memory of themselves in a similar position but back before they were willing to commit to their attraction. "Anytime." And then he leaned down to kiss her soundly, relishing the virtual feel and taste of her that had been so close to getting obliterated only thirty seconds ago.

A moment later, he heard a throat clearing awkwardly above them. "Uh, I guess you guys are okay then?" they heard coming from Fargo. He and Allison had run down to help as soon as they saw them racing from the ship's explosion. Allison stood next to Fargo trying not to grin at their private celebration. Zane reluctantly pulled away from Jo and allowed the two to help them to their feet and check for any injuries.

"We're good, thanks." Jo smiled sheepishly as she dusted herself off, finally focusing on the rapidly expanding damage they'd caused with the explosion. She turned to Zane. "You think we got our heat spike?"

He assured himself that she was okay and then turned to the dire looking hole in the program's simulated interface. "You bet we did."

"We broke the Matrix," Fargo exclaimed in wonder.

Jo scrutinized the blast zone and then assessed the perimeter of the general area from which they ran. "Did you see what happened with Carter? Those bullets definitely didn't keep him down for long. Did he follow us out?"

Zane looked worriedly back to the area where the Astraeus once sat, now coming apart at the seams. "Well, I was a little busy but the last I saw, he could hardly stand much less make a run for it. I didn't see him behind us and there's no way he could have survived that, Terminator or not. Any virtual component within that blast zone would instantly de-res. And by the looks of it, the explosion must have created a cascade failure."

Fargo nervously considered the slowly expanding explosion. "Actually, I think the entire program is starting to de-res—with us inside! We need to run or we're dead!"

"Let's just hope Carter and Henry picked up that signature." Jo said as they turned to escape the approaching abyss. "We'll get you guys out of here soon."

TBC...

* * *

AN: Apologies for that last cliffhanger—that's not usually my thing but this chapter wasn't quite ready for the world yet. I'm not totally satisfied with how the pacing turned out but any further tinkering will just drive me bonkers.

Thanks all for reading and for continuing the feedback. The encouragement has been so lovely and, yes, still very helpful.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine  
****Delete: Part I**

Jo drove as fast as she could to Henry's garage, now extremely alarmed at what she could possibly find once she arrived. Not only was she worried about Grace, but the cascade failure ripping through the program had put their plan on a much accelerated deadline.

When the group split off, the goal was to get the Astraeus crew to as small an area as possible so that the program wouldn't need to spend as much energy recreating the fake version of Eureka. The problem was that Grace remained missing and no one had heard from her since she'd gone to retrieve the remote detonator. After their run-in with Carter, they couldn't take any chances and Jo was not going to leave Grace behind. So she found herself with one more task before they all hopefully got out dodge.

Zane had been as happy about this rescue mission as he'd been about her running into the Astraeus by herself to blow it up. Her only response was a chaste kiss to his adorably pouty lips and a promise that she would be careful.

Parking in front of the garage, Jo saw that Grace's car was still there. She didn't know what to make of that—did this section of the town still exist because she was there looking at it or did it mean that Grace was still alive inside? Either way, Jo wasn't going to waste time pondering it. Climbing out of her car, she immediately pulled out her gun and ran for the door. It was way past the time for subtlety when it came to this God-forsaken program.

Bursting through the door, she saw Henry leaning into Grace who seemed terrified by the man in front of her. It was a shocking and heartbreaking scene given how devoted the two were to each other in the real world. But this wasn't real and Grace was experiencing the weight of that in the worst way possible; unfortunately there was nothing fabricated about the danger she was currently facing.

Jo didn't hesitate to raise her gun as she came upon Henry advancing towards Grace. She watched carefully when he turned in surprise at her entrance. "Henry, don't move! Put your hands up" she shouted.

"Jo?" he responded raising both his arms in confusion. He seemed momentarily taken aback by the gun she held in front of her. It was pointed directly at his head.

It was a bit of a wildcard shooting him after seeing what little it did with Carter. But she didn't need to completely take him out; she just needed to get him on the ground for a few moments so that she could grab Grace and get back to GD. Glancing back over at Grace's terrified face, Jo felt awful for doing what she was about to do in front of her.

Henry now moved towards Jo, all pretense of surprise giving way to realization. "Ah. Carter suspected Allison or Zane but apparently my good friend has been sleeping with the enemy." Jo almost gagged at the suggestion of her and Carter sharing a bed much less doing anything active within it. His grin was mocking and condescending, everything the real Henry was not.

Noting Grace's movement behind Henry, she did her best to distract him away from her. "Well, Carter won't be doing much of anything anymore judging from the last time I saw him."

Henry frowned. Pushing past some equipment in the middle of the room, he took another step, his scowl transforming into a chuckle. It was definitely a creepy turn coming from her old friend. Is this what Grace had been subjected to when she was here all alone with him?

"I don't think you realize what—"

And then he was gone, vanished in a swirl of virtual mist so quick it hardly seemed possible.

Jo redirected her attention towards the far side of the room to see what looked like jumper cables in Grace's hands. But it was the look on her face that took her breath away. Grace had just killed her husband—or the crazy, evil, virtual version of him. It didn't matter that it wasn't really him and it didn't matter that it was necessary. The pain on her face said it all and there were no words from Jo or anyone else that would make it better.

Jo's eyes softened as Grace's gaze remained on the spot where Henry once stood. She walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" It wasn't the right thing to say but it was all Jo could think of.

Grace finally raised her head as if just noticing that Jo had moved from the door to stand directly in front of her. "Not even close. That was…"

"Unsettling," Jo added after a moment's pause.

"Yeah." Jo gave her shoulder a squeeze and Grace pulled herself out of her thoughts. "Let's go," she said. Jo could tell from her tired expression that she was eager to leave not just the garage but this entire virtual world.

Jo nodded and led her out of the garage.

The first minutes of their car ride were silent, each caught up in her own shock and trauma of what had just gone down a few moments earlier. Jo wanted to give Grace as much space as possible given the circumstances. But the older woman recovered as best she could to focus on the more imminent task at hand. Jo had a lot of respect for her endless well of strength.

"Did it work? Were you able to blow up the ship?" As they drove, Grace noticed the signs all around them that the program was coming apart piece by piece. Jo could sympathize with the fear and panic Grace was trying hard to suppress.

"Yeah," Jo responded grimly. "It was a close one but we got the job done. Unfortunately, the explosion caused a cascade failure in the program and the whole town is de-res'ing. The others are back at GD trying to round up the Astraeus crew in one place so the program doesn't have to render more of Eureka than necessary. Fargo thinks it'll slow the cascade failure and give Carter and Henry enough time to get us out of here."

She didn't fail to notice Grace's wince at hearing her husband's name. Jo looked over at her apologetically.

Grace shook her head as if to dismiss her companion's concern. "That's good. I mean, it's not 'good' but it's a step in the right direction. Where did you find another remote detonator?"

Jo flashed her a cheeky smile. "We didn't. Thus the close call."

"Oh, Jo, I'm so sorry. I—"

Jo cut her off immediately. Grace had enough to process right now without feeling guilty about the ionic resonator. "Grace, you don't need to explain or apologize. At all. The important thing is that it worked and it was mission accomplished. But we're the last two they need to account for so once we join them, we should be good." She rolled her eyes. "Again, not 'good,' but … well, you know what I mean," she responded with a grin.

"Right," Grace muttered softly having ignored Jo's attempt to lighten the mood.

As they saw GD appear in the distance, Jo looked over at her once again. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner." Grace raised her hand to protest but Jo cut her off. "No, it's my responsibility to get you guys out of here and I almost let you down. And there's the real Henry out there that's missing you and waiting for you to come home. I don't want to let him down either. Although," Jo added, "it seems you were doing just fine saving yourself. You did what you had to." Grace kept her eyes on the road ahead not looking convinced or comforted. It didn't help that the view behind them was becoming increasingly chaotic, the scenery breaking away into that awful blue and black nothingness.

Jo pulled up to GD and they both ran out of the car and into the building. They could see the complex shattering and breaking apart even as they ran in to join the others. On the way to the rotunda, Jo gave Grace the short run-down of what had happened back at the ship, watching her horrified expression at the description of Terminator Carter almost ruining the whole thing.

As they waited for the elevator, Grace turned to Jo and gently touched her arm. "Jo, don't feel bad about what happened back there with … that Henry." She sighed. "Knowing that Beverly's involved and what she and her co-conspirators are capable of; knowing how hard this must be for the Henry out there? I wish I could change things. But I can't change anything, at least not from in here where they've made all the rules." She looked away deep within her own musings.

She straightened herself as the elevator doors opened and they both walked in. "Anyway, you know it wasn't going to end well no matter who would have been the one to …" She paused unable to finish the thought. "Just … just thanks for coming back for me."

Jo contemplated the woman standing next to her appearing so serious. "Of course." She briefly squeezed Grace's shoulder again in comfort before they turned towards the doors, waiting for the elevator to stop. "I think we both know what it's like to wake up and realize the man we love is this whole other person. But you get through it, for better or for worse," she said, smiling gently. The doors opened and they rushed out and down the hall.

Jo caught the sad smile with which Grace responded. "I think we're all going to have some healing to do once we get out of here," she said finally.

"No—" At that moment, they both caught the familiar figures of Fargo, Allison and Zane coming around the corner, struggling and out of breath. Something was wrong. As the group got closer, Grace gasped and Jo's eyes widened in shock. "—kidding," she finished.

Zane swept his eyes over Jo and Grace, no doubt checking that they weren't hurt. Assured that they were okay, he let out a long breath of relief but was clearly still pissed about something.

"We've got a little problem guys." He then stared directly at Jo with that frustrating smirk he saved for when he knew she was going to be furious with him. "Sorry JoJo."

TBC...

* * *

AN: (Spoilerish for The Honeymooners that just aired) I generally don't write stories that take place during the season that's airing because I like having an understanding of a whole arc when thinking about a character. Writing this chapter is exactly why I have that rule. Grace was a hard one to put my finger on but I decided mostly to just keep it simple. Oh well.

Another chapter will be up quite soon. Tonight (really this morning) is looking unlikely because I'm sleepy. But it's almost ready for the world.

Thanks for reading as always. I appreciate you guys sticking with me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten  
****Delete: Part II**

Eureka was de-resing around them and Zane was roaming around GD gathering the Astraeus crew like a freaking kindergarten teacher.

Jo had gone off to find Grace who still hadn't surfaced by the time they headed back to GD. Henry definitely must have slowed her down and he hoped that she was okay. Hearing about what happened with Holly and what could have happened to him if Jo hadn't shown up, he was paranoid about any of the Astraeus crew members being left alone with the program's NPCs.

He was also pissed that, once again, Jo had gone off by herself to walk right into danger, head first. Actually, knowing Jo, it would probably be gun first which made him feel only a little bit better. She viewed saving the crew as a non-negotiable obligation and part of her specific current mission. He got that. But it was still maddening how nonchalant she was about it. When he'd voiced his concerns, she'd simply kissed him and promised she'd be careful before climbing into her car and speeding off. Fargo had to grab his arm and push him into the car before his mind got over it and switched back to solving their latest problem.

Fargo had sent the other sixteen members of the Astraeus crew a 911 text telling them to gather in the rotunda. However, Eureka scientists weren't particularly known for immediately following orders. The astrogeologists and biologists were the worst and sure enough, he found them all in the conference room off of Lab 7 arguing about whether they should shut down their experiments before complying. After directing this last group to the rotunda, he turned around in time to see the far wall de-resing and coming apart behind him.

Screw this place. He wasn't hanging around another second he didn't have to. Hopefully, there'd be no more delays and Jo and Grace would be waiting safely when he got to the rendezvous point.

Apparently that wasn't in the cards; when he turned to run out of the room, he ran full body into Sheriff Jack Carter.

Zane was instantly enraged by the utter absurdity of this development. He had hit this guy in the head with a piece of wood and watched him shake it off; he'd seen him get drugged with a tranquilizer dart and watched him shake it off; he put a slew of bullets into the back of his stupid, simulated head and watched him shake it off. Now, after blowing up a ship practically in his face, the guy was standing in front of him looking fresh as a daisy while the world fell apart around them. He was staring Zane down as if this was just another day at the office and Zane had pulled an especially irksome prank.

Carter stood in front of Zane with a stern expression and his arms crossed in front of him. Traces of dried blood remained on his face and he was pissed. Really pissed.

"Surprise," he murmured without any of Carter's usual humor, mocking or otherwise. "I bet you weren't expecting me at your little party. I guess you're realizing that I'm pretty light on my feet when I want to be. And quick. Boy am I quick." Even as he spoke, his body flickered and de-resed a few times, although mostly it stayed solid.

Zane wasn't going to wait for him to lead with the first strike. He punched him full force with a right hook.

Carter's head snapped back briefly but there was no other indication that Zane had even violated his personal space. However he did grin at the attempt; it was that signature Carter smile but instead of being good-humored and welcoming, it was dripping with a manic hatred.

"Now I'm definitely going to kill you," he said. Before he could even blink, Carter drew back his arm and hit Zane hard enough to knock him flat on his back.

Zane glanced quickly over his shoulder seeing that the Matrix abyss had reached farther into the room. Tables, desks and chairs that had previously been bolted down flew into the nothingness, drifting inside the ether to de-res without a trace. He tried to scurry to his feet away from the vortex but unfortunately Carter beat him to the punch, literally, and kicked him back to the ground.

"You always did think you were so much smarter than everybody. We'll see how you like having your brain squeezed out of the program into nothing." He had a good hold on two fistfuls of Zane's jacket and seemed eager to give him a personal escort out of the Matrix via the cascade failure. "That must be why Jo will be so quick to forget all about you and come running right into my arms."

Despite the pain, Zane scowled at who he now considered to be the smuggest asshole he'd ever met; worse than that toolbox General Mansfield ever was. Knowing all this was fake didn't make Carter's taunting words piss him off any less.

Also, unlike Carter, Zane wasn't one for dicking around with idle conversation when there was ass-kicking to do. That's one thing prison teaches a guy that law enforcement types would never understand. And the big guy had forgotten one thing. Zane pulled the gun from his pocket and willed there to be bullets remaining in the clip. He couldn't remember how many he had emptied into the sheriff back on the Astraeus. Like before, he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, watching the impact of the ammunition force Carter to release his hold and stumble farther towards the crumbling vortex.

Zane knew the shots wouldn't keep the man down for long but they didn't need to; he could let the suction coming from the empty space behind him do the rest.

Struggling to stand up while holding the gun to his aching side, Zane tried to catch a few breaths after the blows Carter had inflicted upon him. Watching the sheriff reeling from the assault, Zane resisted the urge to empty the clip into him. That would be overkill he supposed.

But what the hell.

Zane raised the gun back up, walking backwards towards the exit and away from the approaching cascade failure. He fired again and again, the force of the bullets this time causing the man to fall on his back at the edge of the vortex. Just when Zane thought he was in the clear, at the last second, Carter grabbed onto the leg of one of the desks and tried to pull himself back up. Zane cursed at the man; he just wouldn't fucking die!

He heard someone call his name from behind him and chanced a quick glimpse over his shoulder at Allison running into the room. "Oh my God, Jack!"

Zane pushed her back behind him, gun still pointed. They both watched Carter's losing battle for escape—one wearing an expression of horror, the other exuding an angry determination—as the cascade failure began to swallow him. The NPC completely ignored them, occupied by his loosening grip on the desk getting pulled in along with him.

"It's not him, Allison. He's a fake." He certainly said this to ease some of Allison's distress. Perhaps he also said it for himself, a way to acknowledge how he had just angrily and almost gleefully emptied a round of bullets into another man, albeit virtually. He tried to think of it as a video game where the consequences for shooting or stealing, even killing were nothing more than fabrications made up of a series of code that would reset itself upon command. But in the back of his mind, he fully understood what his anger had prompted him to do in the name of protecting his friends; how saving lives, including his own, had justified in his mind so much violence from his normally easygoing demeanor. On some level, he liked Sheriff Jack Carter, the real Sheriff Carter. He certainly respected him in a way, despite his authoritarian tendencies. Nonetheless, he wasn't so sure he'd do things differently in the real world if the man threatened the people he cared about.

As much as he believed his words to Allison and as much as he hated everyone in this simulation, especially Carter, he didn't have the heart to finish the man off in front of her. The guy was a goner anyway and they would join him if they didn't get out of there. He backed them out further keeping Allison firmly behind him during Carter's last moments. They watched as the desk reached the edge of the cascade failure and the momentum of the vortex pulled Carter into a free fall. Zane wanted to see the man eviscerated with his own eyes to ensure that he was gone for good and not making any last-ditch efforts to sabotage their plans.

As Carter made his last grasp on this virtual world, he drew his gun on them. "You jackass," his voice echoed from the vortex. Zane smirked knowing that the sheriff's parting words were definitely meant for him. Bright flashes from the gunfire flared at them as Carter flew into the vortex and disintegrated.

Zane's first reaction was to revel in the satisfaction of actually seeing this Carter get torn to pieces. Gloating felt good.

His second reaction was disappointment. He looked down and frowned at the smoke rising from the newly formed hole in his chest. Jo wasn't going to be happy that he'd gotten a bullet hole in her favorite leather jacket. He pressed his hand underneath and encountered what felt like the very real stickiness of his own blood running along his fingers. Suddenly everything seemed very surreal. Or more accurately, everything felt more surreal than realizing a few hours ago that he was stuck in a total immersion simulation program. What a funny thing.

Allison turned him around, eyes wide with fear. He felt the pressure of her hand against his as she tried to stop the blood flow.

She looked so sad, he thought. He didn't like that.

"Hey, that didn't suck," he joked cocking his head towards the vortex into which the sheriff had disappeared. Then a wave of dizziness washed over him, blurring his vision.

Expanding cascade failure forgotten, Allison shuffled him out of the room and hurried him down the hallway as fast as they could go with her hand pressed solidly against his chest. "Hey, no dying remember? We're going to get you out of here and you're going to be fine."

As soon as they rounded the corner, they were met by Fargo. "Where have you guys been? We're all in the rotunda waiting on Jo and Gra— Holy socks!" he exclaimed when he saw the blood running down Zane's shirt. He had stopped cold with his mouth hanging open in shock.

Focused on keeping Zane conscious and upright, Allison glared at Fargo. "Help me get him to the infirmary! We need to patch him up and keep him alive long enough for Jack and Henry to get us out. He's going to go into shock any minute."

"Right!" Fargo responded, running to Zane's other side and holding him up.

Zane looked down at Fargo a bit lethargically but still with a solid enough stance. "Allison's just exaggerating. I feel fine enough," he said flashing a small smile at his friend. "Don't worry, Little Big Man. There's no way I'm dying in this crap town." They shuffled quickly forward and saw two figures rushing towards them. Jo and Grace, Zane noted with a smile. They were safe.

When they met the two women at the turn-off for the infirmary, he saw a look of horror cross Jo's face. He checked her over making sure she wasn't similarly shot up or bruised or hurt in any way. Grace looked shaken and clearly worried about the scene in front of her but, otherwise, she appeared unscathed.

Allison continued to hold on to his chest but used their momentary respite to assess the damage. She quickly yanked his farther arm out of the jacket to see if the bullet had gone through and repositioned her hand against him to apply more firm pressure to the bleeding wound.

Feeling the pain shoot across his chest and up his neck, Zane's grimace turned into a scowl seeing Jo's worried face. They were so close and he had to go and complicate things. And the more they stood around, the less they could do to help themselves get out of this program. However, first things first, he needed to get that awful look off of Jo's face while he still had the energy.

"We've got a little problem guys." Jo's eyes narrowed seeing what he was trying to do. He automatically smirked at her which he knew would drive her crazy but would also distract her from freaking out over his injury. "Sorry JoJo."

Snapping back to reality, she immediately ran towards him and took over for Fargo who looked like he was about to keel over supporting Zane's bigger form. She took his muscular weight against her body with no problem. His mind immediately defaulted to the sexiness of that thought and he didn't waste any energy feeling bad about the inappropriateness of that sentiment at a time like this. He had a freaking hole in his chest; anything to keep him focused was fair game as far as he was concerned.

She stroked the bruise already forming across his cheek. Carter 2.0 packed one hell of a punch; virtual or not, it hurt like hell. "I can't leave you alone for five minutes," she muttered now leaning past his shoulder to assess the damage as best she could while Allison carefully removed his other arm from his jacket.

He looked down at her and sighed with the relief of seeing her. This was the home stretch. Just a little bit longer and they'd be clear and she could hold him for real. He carefully leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"Don't worry Jo." Her gaze turned up to him and she kissed his lips gently, tears welling up in her eyes. "Hey none of that. I'm gonna hang in there as long as I need to." They both turned at the sound of Zane's blood soaked jacket hitting the ground where Allison had slid it from his arm. "And I've still got the real version of your favorite jacket out there in the real Eureka." Jo's strangled laugh slash sob broke his heart but she recovered quickly and pulled him more firmly against her. As a tear escaped the corner of her eye, she smiled at him, that sweet grin that made his insides melt every time—although his insides probably didn't appreciate the disruption currently.

She wouldn't let him go; he was sure of that now.

He looked up at the worried faces surrounding him and smiled weakly. "Let's get to the rotunda. We've got a few hot dates waiting for us."

TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven  
****Delete: Part III**

Jo was trying to pull herself together. It was a difficult task.

She'd jumped through hoop after hoop to get the crew to safety. There had been guns pointed at her head, hostility from her closest friends. She'd even been willing to sacrifice herself to ensure the success of the mission. So why had she returned to GD only to find Zane with a bullet through his chest? It wasn't fair. Jo prided herself on keeping calm under pressure but her mind was screaming, "Screw this program!"

She was furious with Zane but more than that she was terrified. She could not lose him again, not when they were so close. As she held him up, she could feel him steady enough against her but he was going to fade fast when the shock kicked in. The most frustrating part was how he joked as if this was nothing when he was mostly just wasting his energy trying to keep her from freaking out.

Assessing his condition, she noticed that half of Zane's shirt was now soaked with blood from the leaking wound. His eyes didn't seem as alert and even though he was standing on his own two feet more or less, he still had a significant portion of his weight on her too. She watched Fargo slip out of his sweater and hand it over to Allison to hold against his wound.

_'Where are you, Carter?'_ Jo directed at the universe. _'Any time now.'_

Anything could still go wrong at this point. Zane could die with all traces of him shut down, both in here and out in the real world. Hell, they could all die trapped in the program if rescue came too late. Not to mention that, despite the Henry and apparently the Carter NPCs being out of the picture, who knew what other Eureka character might pick up where they left off. Larry? Vincent? Maybe Jenna sporting a simulated hand grenade or kid-sized machine gun to keep them from escaping? Of course, that was absurd but everything about their situation exceeded normal parameters.

Plans had already been set in motion though. Zane just needed to hang on a little while longer.

Doing her best to keep her spiraling emotions in check, Jo turned to Allison. "What happened?" she asked. It wasn't necessary to explain what she meant. Fifteen minutes ago, she had left Zane in a perfect state of health, albeit annoyed with her, and he now stood in her arms bleeding from a virtual gunshot wound.

"Your boyfriend Carter happened," Zane answered instead. "But it's been taken care of." Jo furrowed her brow in confusion and he grinned. "You are so adorable, you know that?" She frowned at him. Was he was delirious? The situation was serious and he was talking about how adorable she was?

Allison scowled at him as well. "Cut the chit-chat, Zane. You need to conserve your energy." Turning to Jo she explained, "It _was_ Carter but we'll have to fill you in on the specifics later." Rather than proceeding to the rotunda as Zane had expected, she signaled to Jo to begin moving him forward towards the infirmary.

Allison wasn't panicking which Jo considered a good sign … maybe. On second thought, she realized that, in actuality, Allison rarely panicked. So if she was calm, did that mean that Zane's condition was more serious than she was willing to let on? She also wasn't in full-on triage mode, although she did seem sufficiently worried about Zane. Jo just couldn't tell what the doctor was thinking and it was driving her crazy.

Turning her head, Allison gave Grace a once over as well while she followed along with them. "Thank God you guys made it."

"Barely," Grace responded, clearly shook up. Zane redirected his attention to her, curiosity written all over his face. He was no doubt wondering what had gone down with Henry. Even injured he was one of the nosiest people she'd ever met. His curiosity would have to wait.

"Eureka is coming apart at the seams," Jo noted, taking in their surroundings and the cracks forming all around them.

"Yeah, waiting to be rescued is not an option," Fargo commented. "This is a nightmare." Fargo was always good for stating the obvious Jo mentally snarked. She bit her tongue to keep from vocalizing her irritation. It would be the stress talking and it wasn't Fargo's fault that things didn't seem to be going according to plan at the moment.

With some effort, Zane lifted his head to look behind him at the hallway they just passed. He had taken notice that they were headed in a different direction than he was expecting. "Wait, where are we going? We need to get down to the rotunda."

Allison ignored his question as did Jo who cocked her head to the side in thought. "Wait, what if that's it?"

"What? Going the wrong way and getting us killed?" Zane shot back. Allison glared at him for insisting on arguing with them when she'd told him to conserve his energy.

Jo rolled her eyes as well. "No, what if all we have to do is wake up, the same way Zane woke up when Martha shocked him."

"That could work," Grace jumped in. "A big enough shock could have disrupted the electrical impulses between Zane's brain and the Matrix computer."

"Uh hello?" Zane whined. "Bleeding guy wants to know what's going on."

"Hush!" Allison shouted at him finally. Turning to Grace she added, "But Zane was lucky he didn't get electrocuted. If we try to replicate it, you could wake up for a second or never wake up again."

They turned the corner into the infirmary and immediately steered Zane onto an examining table. Allison gently got him situated at the head of the bed, being mindful of his wound, while Jo swept his legs up and over the side. Normally, Zane would be irritated by this kind of coddling but Jo could see that his energy was fading fast—probably from all that unauthorized butting-in he'd been doing. Having gotten him settled, Allison nodded at Jo who reached over to apply the pressure to his chest while she gathered her supplies and equipment. Fargo's sweater felt heavy and drenched with his blood.

Jo shifted her weight against the one arm pushing down on Zane's injury and with the other, she squeezed his good shoulder in support. He simply stared up at her with those gorgeous eyes of his, too tired to do anything but rest. When his breathing returned to a normal pace, she swiftly moved her hand across his body to rip his shirt down the middle. Allison would need better access to the wound if she was going to clean it and stabilize him.

Zane raised an eyebrow at her and flashed a faint smile. "You love doing that." She grinned back and raised an eyebrow at him.

But the truth was that she hated doing this. And she hated seeing how pale he had become just in the few minutes it took to get him to the infirmary. Jo didn't want to worry him so she covered his lips playfully with her index finger indicating that he should be quiet.

"Just trying to lend a hand." Her appreciative glance across his chest was meant for him to notice. The uninjured half of his torso was so clean and beautiful that she could almost ignore the mess that her hand was currently covering. She gently caressed his chest before positioning her other hand over his wound to help stop the bleeding. "Instead of running that big mouth of yours, what I want you to do instead is think about all the things we might want to do later once we get everyone out of here. I'm assuming that we're going to have a ridiculous amount of sex tonight."

He laughed weakly, wincing when it turned into a painful cough. He chose to remain silent but he did move his hand to rest against her hip and squeezed lightly. Once he got his breathing back to normal again he added, "Ridiculous, huh? I'm game if you're game, JoJo." That was her Zane. Staring at the brink of catastrophe, he wanted to go out teasing and playful with the promise of exciting intimacies when they eventually overcame the impossible.

Jo caught a glimpse of Allison shaking her head beside them, but with a slight, exasperated grin. She approached the other side of Zane, rolling a tray of equipment and supplies with her. Coordinating with Jo, she gingerly replaced Jo's hands and the soaked-through sweater with a healthy pile of specially-treated GD triage gauze. The bleeding appeared to have slowed a little but the wound still looked pretty bad.

Jo leaned back and clenched the edge of Zane's bed. Her tight grip was a dead giveaway of her frustration. However, she turned her attention back to the problem at hand.

"If we try this, if we intentionally shock my body to separate the brain from the computer, there's also the problem that I'm not with all of you in the real world. Even if I woke up, I couldn't get all of you out." She sighed and gazed around the infirmary. "I don't even know why I'm still here. Henry and Beverly were supposed to eject me as soon as they detected the heat spike and communicated your location. Something must be up."

Fargo winced. "Just a few small issues," he noted, unable to hide his nervousness.

Zane lolled his head over to Jo and moved his hand from her hip to cover her clenched fingers. He was trying not to growl in pain at Allison's actions; she only had time for a mild, local anesthetic before treating him. "And who the hell said that it'd be you taking the plunge. I think you've tempted fate a few too many times today." His words were starting to get a little slurred increasing Jo's unease. But his tone was very cross; it was mainly out of concern that he dared to say anything at all so she let it slide.

Rolling her eyes, Jo moved her fingers to grasp his hand more securely so that he could hold onto her while Allison worked. She tried to ignore the slickness of his blood covering both of their hands. "You're one to talk," she chastised. Between the pain and the blood loss, his eyes were struggling to keep their focus, she noticed. If he had to endure much more of this, she was afraid he'd pass out. Or worse.

Yet he still found the energy to object. "I'm serious, Jo. I'll do it. I'm already injured and I wouldn't mind getting out of here early since the clock's ticking a little faster for me."

Jo was about to protest when Allison interrupted. "We're not even going to get into it," she said looking directly at Jo. "Zane, you're in no shape to do what Grace is suggesting. Your system is unstable and we don't actually know how this technology works. Even if you weren't injured, it would be a huge risk. But with your vitals all over the place, I can't allow it. You're going to have to sit this one out."

Now that Zane's bloody shirt was gone and Allison had been working on cleaning and neutralizing his wound, both women were relieved to see that the bullet hit him closer to his shoulder than his chest. That was a much less scary prospect, not that the amount of blood he'd lost wasn't still a concern.

"I'll do it then," Fargo said from behind the group. He was wringing his hands and shifting back and forth on his feet. But he also appeared determined. "I'm head of Global. All of you have been risking your lives all day and it's time for me to man up and get my people home safe." Jo smirked over his reluctant bravery and Fargo blushed. "Besides," he added, "you'll need a computer geek to help decipher the program."

Allison looked up from where she was treating Zane. He was still conscious but his earlier protest had sapped what remained of his extra energy and left him in no shape to hold a conversation. She glanced at Grace and then at Jo. It was apparent that she did not like this plan one bit but also didn't have anything better to offer.

"Fargo, I don't know what you'll be walking into," Jo explained. "Beverly said that most of the people watching over you guys are scientists but there's bound to be a few goon-types with guns there as well. You'll have to watch out for them too."

He pursed his lips, obviously not having considered that angle. However, he squared his shoulders with only minimal hesitation. Director Fargo was on it. "I'll get it done, guys. I promise." He clapped his hands together and returned to the inappropriate enthusiasm that was more common for him. "Let's go! Once I'm out, stabilize Zane and get down to the rotunda to buy some more time."

Fargo pulled another examination table over to where Allison was working and climbed up on it. Tossing off both of his remaining shirts, he situated himself and glanced around the room. Everyone offered expressions of encouragement and pride as best they could through their fear—and pain in Zane's case.

"Okay. Ready as I'll ever be. Hit me."

Allison had slowed Zane's bleeding and seemed content to leave him unattended for the few moments it would take to execute—literally execute—this unexpected part of the plan. She had also already placed a defibrillator on her cart as a standby in case Zane's condition became worse. Jo imagined that as a doctor, this must be difficult and strange for her to be administering an electrical shock to an otherwise healthy person. But on the Eureka scale of odd remedies, this barely registered.

She moved the paddles so that they hovered over Fargo's body. They were both tense, their tightly coiled anxiety almost painful to watch. Allison didn't seem at all convinced that this was the way to go. In fact, she looked sick to her stomach about it which was unusual for her. Jo touched her arm and gave her a confident smile. "It's okay, Allison. Let's do this."

"Hit me," Fargo insisted. As Allison reluctantly lowered the paddles he whispered, "Fargo, you are The One."

They all jumped a little when Allison delivered the electrical jolt to Fargo's system. And they stood stone-still waiting to see what would happen. The shock had caused Fargo to fall unconscious and his body remained inert on the examination bed. Suddenly, they saw his form shimmer and dissolve slowly as if it had turned to vapor and was being blown into the wind. Even Zane, exhausted from his injury and treatment, stared in awe at the area that his buddy had occupied several seconds ago.

"Good luck, Fargo." Jo directed at the last remnants of her friend, now their last hope for survival.

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**  
**Delete: Part IV**

Jo watched in awe as Fargo vanished from the infirmary bed. He didn't disappear quickly as Henry had when Grace electrocuted him. Instead, it was like he came apart one particle at a time before slowly dispersing into waves of nothingness. It was up to him now.

Grace stepped forward, assessing the empty space that Fargo left behind. "Well, I think we should assume that it worked." She turned towards the two women flanking Zane who was struggling to raise his head. "How's Zane? Can we move him because we don't have much time?"

Allison, now back attending to Zane, surrounded the area of his wound with more gauze and taped it down. She quickly injected something into his arm and then signaled for Jo to steer the other side of his bed as she unlocked the wheels. They couldn't risk moving him into a more maneuverable wheelchair when he was in this condition.

"I've done all I can for him at the moment. He should be okay for a short while."

"Should be?" Jo asked nervously, wheeling the bed towards the door as Grace cleared away any equipment in their way.

"It's the best we're going to get and we've got to hurry to the rotunda with the rest of the crew. We could lose you at any moment so let's get out of here."

The four of them then took off towards the lobby and their waiting colleagues. Zane was quiet the entire way. He seemed to be focusing all his energy on staying conscious for which Jo was thankful. She watched his head roll to the side almost of its own accord before he would jerk and right himself.

Reaching the rest of the group in the rotunda, Jo registered the remaining crew members' confusion and panic. She turned back towards the hallway they'd come from and saw that it had already been deconstructed and torn apart. The area above was crumbling as well and the only spot left that remained solid was the round room where the group was currently congregated. They could already see the cracks forming in the walls. It was only a matter of minutes before the room would get sucked in too with all of them in it. Jo regretted not being able to reassure them—she had no idea herself how all of this was going to turn out. Like everyone else, she was hoping for the best. She'd done all she could.

Finding the words that Jo couldn't, Grace was explaining that they were working to fix what was going on. There wasn't enough time to go into the details about the program but she at least wanted them to know that they were doing everything they could to solve the problem. She considered herself their captain to the last and Jo was really grateful for and impressed by that.

"Anytime Fargo," Jo muttered to herself. "C'mon, it's time to bring us home." She was standing next to Zane who lay in his bed, awake but seriously out of it. Along with assessing the world coming apart around them, she continued to keep an eye on him as well. She could see Allison doing the same on his other side.

Zane rested his head back against the bed, clearly in a lot of pain if his periodic groans were any indication. "If he even got out alive," he mumbled. Jo glared at him and put a finger to his lips again to stop his talking. She doubted he even noticed though so overwhelmed with pain and discomfort. The quick trip to the rotunda had done him no favors and he looked like he was going to throw up or pass out at any second.

"Jo, what about you?" Allison asked, concern written all over her face. Jo recalled the very different reception she received when she'd first encountered Allison in here and was glad to see that she'd won her trust. She considered Allison to be a good friend and it hurt to think that something so out of her control had irreparably damaged their relationship.

Pursing her lips in frustration, Jo didn't want to admit that she was wondering the same thing as Allison. "Henry and Beverly are working on it." She shook her head, reconsidering her words, and added, "Well, probably only Henry is but they'll get me out of here, don't worry." She really hoped that was true. Henry had her ultimate trust and faith but Beverly's wildcards always threw a hitch in even the best-laid plans. And this plan was far from top-tier.

She felt a weight gently against her arm and saw that Zane had moved his hand to get her attention. "Zane, don't try to talk. Just worry about staying awake for me, okay babe?" She leaned over him taking his hand in hers and stroking his thigh to hopefully calm him down.

He was struggling to say something to her but couldn't seem to get his mouth to do what he wanted it to do. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head as well but just when she'd start to panic, he'd focus on her face and start the whole routine over again.

"Jo, I … I need …" A loud cracking noise surprised the group and Jo looked up to see what had happened. The far wall was coming apart now and everyone was momentarily silenced by the horrifying disruption.

Jo turned her eyes back to Zane and saw that his eyes were closed and his head had fallen to the side against the bed. His face had relaxed along with the hand she held in hers. There was no movement whatsoever from his eyes.

"No!" Jo cried. "Don't you dare die on me." Allison moved to check his pulse while Jo cradled his head in her hands and willed a reaction from him. "Wake up, Zane! I'm not letting you give up on me like this!"

"I've still got a weak pulse but it's erratic. I don't know how much longer he has!" Allison yelled.

Jo raised her arm and smacked him good in the cheek. If he thought he could just die on her, he had another thing coming.

Zane's eyes shot open at the contact. "Ow! Lupo!" Surely he meant his tone to be harsher but it came out barely above a whisper. He lifted his head weakly and turned towards her.

Jo sighed in relief and blinked to stave off the flow of tears waiting to break free. "Don't you 'Lupo' me! I told you to stay awake!" She was so scared and, in her mind, cursing Henry and Carter and Fargo for not working faster.

"Trying ..." he said. "But … no hitting," he admonished, brow furrowed in irritation.

Jo gripped his hand again. "Stop dying on me then!"

He managed as much of a grin as his overtaxed body would allow. But she was content simply to hold his tired, pain-filled gaze for as long as he needed. Squeezing her hand, he raised it to his lips with a great amount of effort and kissed their joined fingers.

"Don't … don't let go, JoJo," he said looking straight into her eyes. "Don't you—"

And then he disappeared. He vanished right along with Allison and the rest of the Astraeus crew Jo discovered when she turned to note the empty space around her.

Her brain worked to comprehend what had just happened. It was like her mind couldn't catch up to what her senses told her had transpired. She was still leaning over as if Zane were only a few inches from her. The hand that had been holding his just a few seconds before hovered and curved as if trying to hang on to his essence. The only thing that remained was the empty bed covered in his blood.

No, not his blood. It was only virtual blood. The real Zane was now safe back in the real world. As she straightened herself and shook off her stupor, she remained truly amazed that they were actually gone. Then she took a moment to smile.

But the room was still coming apart around her and it was approaching faster and faster. The surface of everything was crumbling and breaking away, first the steps, then the walls and finally the floor in front of her. She turned around to see Fargo's office disintegrate into hundreds of pieces. She moved as far as she could from the collapsing foundation but once she reached the ledge, there was nowhere else to go. She climbed over and balanced herself along it until, finally, she was surrounded by chaos and destruction.

Jo's last thought was one of relief. She had done what she'd come here to do. She'd gotten the crew home. After that, there was nothing.

TBC...

* * *

_AN: These last two chapters used to be one (which is probably apparent) but it was so long that I thought it needed splitting. So apologies for any pacing problems it's caused. I couldn't seem to find a good solution for that and a Zane POV wasn't something I could pull off. Getting his take on things stretched my limited creative abilities given that he's all in pain and generally messed up._

_We're in the home stretch of course. Luckily, almost everything is written and just waiting for edits, save a small portion of the last chapter. So I will hopefully get everything up in good time. As always, thanks for reading!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**  
**Restart: Part I**

Zane absolutely hated this feeling. His mind was all confusion and numbness. He remembered Fargo disappearing from the infirmary and he still recalled a few images of being rushed towards the waiting Astraeus crew members in the rotunda. Between the dizzying twists and turns and whatever medication Allison had injected him with, by the time they reached the others he was pretty out of it. He had no sense of time or space; there was just the throbbing in his chest, nausea and a dullness all over the rest of his body.

And there was Jo. He needed to focus on Jo.

He heard rather than saw Global Dynamics breaking down and disintegrating as the program failed. All around him were the signs of it. He didn't dwell, he just kept holding onto his lifeline—his very beautiful, very pushy touchstone. His awareness went in and out, but always it came back to her. She'd yelled at him and he yelled right back, half out of his mind but not so much that he didn't hear the fear in her voice and wanted to make it all better for her. He grasped her hand, held it as tight as he could. For some reason he thought that if he wanted to get out alive, there could be no one else in his world but her—no crew members, no Allison, just his Josefina.

He felt her fingers around his, now crusty with drying blood. He tried to tell her to hang on to him. He held her gaze as if life depended on it because, to him, it seemed like it just might.

And then she was gone.

The next thing Zane registered was incredible pain. It wasn't just the burn pulsating throughout his chest and thankfully dissipating but also a heaviness all over his body that made it hurt to move. His heart was racing and he felt annoyingly light-headed. As each second passed, the dizziness he had been feeling inside the program started to clear along with the nausea.

Making a tentative attempt to assess his surroundings, he moved his head around the room as far as it would go. It was mostly dark with the eerie glow of computer screens and active hardware spread throughout a relatively small space. The sight of data brightly streaming across a clear interface was something he normally enjoyed being a computer type but now the flickering was just irritating. He saw the rest of the crew in much the same state of disorientation as him. There was a lot of confusion and discomfort, not to mention the chaos of military personnel surrounding them as they rounded up some technician-types in the background.

They'd been right! It had all been a simulation. Now that he was awake, he could fell the difference between what the world seemed like in there and how it really was out here. Not that what he'd been through in the past month hadn't felt real—it had absolutely felt real. But there was something else, some extra awareness that he could sense now yet couldn't identify.

Several of the crew were being assisted by the military personnel or medical staff; Grace had already slid off of her bed and was trying to ensure everyone was accounted for. Across the room, he caught a glimpse of Fargo working intently on something at a brightly lit console. Then his brain caught up to the present and his chest constricted again, this time in panic.

"Jo!" he said out loud, putting voice to his concern.

He shook off his grogginess enough to remember she was back in Eureka and not wherever they were. And she had still been in the program when they'd disappeared. Recalling those final, hazy seconds, she was the last thing he saw; those expressive brown eyes filled with worry and determination. Did he tell her not to let go of him? That's what he'd been thinking.

Instead, _he_ had let go of _her_. Zane felt sick again.

Suddenly Allison was in front of him, looking shaky but otherwise okay. "Don't move Zane. We need to make sure you're stabilized. You were not doing well at the end there."

Ignoring her, he tried propping himself up on the bed and swinging his legs over. The effort seemed enormous; it felt like he had 100 pound weights tied to every part of his body. "Jo's still in there. We've got to get her out before it's too late." Zane tried pushing himself off of the table but Allison stopped him. He tried his best to sweep her aside but he didn't have the strength. "It might already be too late. Allison, move."

"Fargo is already working on it. You need to slow down or you won't be any good to her when she gets out. Your body has suffered major trauma in addition to whatever neurological damage has been done because of the program. Stop and let the doctors examine you."

He sat at the side of the bed and tried to steady his breath. "What if I can help?" he pleaded.

Allison's eyes softened on him. "You can't. Let Fargo handle it. Jo is his friend. He won't give up."

Just then Carter walked over and put his arm around Allison to help her maintain her balance. "Giving her trouble already?" he asked trying to lighten the mood. But Zane could see the tension in his face as well. "Try and slow down. I'm sure you're feeling a little limp but don't worry, I won't tell Jo."

"Cut the jokes, Carter. Where is she?" His tone was dripping with hostility yet a moment later, Zane sighed, realizing that he should reel it in. Maybe it was Carter's stunned face, hand up in surrender. Or maybe he was getting his faculties back about him the more he grounded himself in the real world. He had to remember that this wasn't the same Carter who had tried to kill all of them, who he had tried to kill right back only to be given a bullet in his chest as a parting gift. This wasn't the same man who had taken Jo from him. Getting past all that baggage now that they were back in the real world was going to be incredibly difficult.

"Sorry," he muttered. However, he refused to make eye contact with the sheriff. "Long story."

Carter narrowed his eyes at Zane but let the issue go. "It's okay." Zane had a feeling that things between them were far from over though. Carter turned back towards where Fargo was sitting. "We just made contact with Beverly. Fargo logged her back in and she'll eject Jo."

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Allison asked frowning.

Carter shrugged. Zane noticed that he seemed just as tired as the rest of them. "I don't know Allie. Of course, she can't be trusted but she helped us get all of you back. I have to think she wouldn't just leave Jo to die."

"Of course she would," Allison said bitterly. "She would have left me to die when she sent Grant back to 1947. She let Kim die." Zane then watched her panic as she remembered he was sitting right there in front of her. "Zane, I'm sorry. I'm just really stressed and worried, like you are." She turned to Carter and held on to him tighter. "Jo saved us, Jack."

Carter kissed the top of her head. "I know." He turned back to Zane. "Fargo was talking it through with Beverly when I stepped over here. There's no reason to believe that she couldn't get Jo out too."

"And the rotunda hadn't completely come apart yet either. She had a little bit more time for Fargo and Beverly to get her out," Allison added.

Zane understood that they were trying to make him feel better and calm him down. It was a wasted endeavor. Until Jo was standing in front of him, close enough for him to hold, he didn't see his tension subsiding much.

Hearing Fargo's panicked voice, they all turned towards his side of the room. "Beverly? Beverly!" he shouted. He tapped his earpiece and then removed it to check that it was on and still working. Placing it back into his ear, he tried again. "Beverly! Darn! Lost contact."

"No!" Zane shouted. "Did you get her?" He was again attempting to move off of the table, ignoring the medical technician who had come over to examine him. He almost fell to the floor but Carter quickly released his hold on Allison and grabbed him before he hit the ground.

"Easy, Zane. I'll get you over there, just take it easy." They shuffled over to Fargo as he continued to type commands into the computer.

Looking up, Fargo winced seeing Zane's intense stare directed at him. It was definitely making him nervous. "Jo is integrated from a different source and she's gotta be ejected from there. I lost contact with Beverly but I did log her in so that she could help Jo."

Zane leaned against the console to peek over Fargo's shoulder. "She didn't have much time. Can you tell if Beverly got her out?"

"I can't tell," Fargo said typing in a few more commands. The cascade failure is causing all of the systems to shut down. Because Jo took over for an NPC, I don't have data specific to her. All I can see is that the outside signal, presumably the one from Eureka, is no longer active." He glanced at Zane with one of his annoyingly optimistic expressions. "But it's a good sign that she got out, right?"

"So basically you don't know anything." Zane's tone was harsh and Fargo recoiled a bit, unable to hide his guilt at not having more information. A few moments later Zane put a hand on his shoulder in apology. They were in the same boat really, both not knowing the fate of the women they cared about. Except Zane at least knew what he was facing and there was a chance his girl had made it through. Fargo wasn't so lucky on either count. The accidental director of GD had bravely volunteered himself when things had gotten down to the wire and he'd obviously come through for his people. Fargo's world was about to come crashing down on him and he didn't even have a clue. Zane needed to cut him some slack.

While Fargo continued his attempts to locate Jo, Carter called over one of the security officers. "Have you established contact with Eureka so we can get a status update on what's happening there?"

Zane recognized the guy as one of the men on Jo's command team. Thomas or Tompkins, something like that. Zane had been fond of calling him Deputy Dumbass based on their history of annoyance and avoidance. The guy had been happy to leave Zane's troublemaking antics to Lupo who was always in the mood to lock him up. Besides, he'd gotten the last laugh after he started sleeping with the boss but he tried to mostly behave himself around Jo's subordinate so as not to make things difficult for her.

In response to Carter's question, 'Thompson,' Zane read on his uniform, signaled another person over, examined their data pad and waved them away. "We're only just now re-establishing contact with Eureka. This mission was top priority, mandatory radio-silence. It's going to take a while to get all of this under control," he explained, indicating the complex operation they'd stumbled upon. "What we can do is get all of you back to GD so that you can get checked out in the infirmary and we can figure out how to handle things with the Senator."

He paused and held his hand to his ear, probably listening to someone speaking to him. Directing his attention back to the group, he added, "I've just got a report that the Senator's personal security detail is not answering requests for status. A team has been deployed to their last known location to intercept."

"What was the last known location," Carter asked.

The soldier sighed. "Dr. Deacon's garage."

"That's where Jo is right?" Zane asked. Carter nodded.

"Let's go then."

* * *

Jo's eyes flew open and she took in a world surrounded by blue. She felt something soft and warm against her head and surrounding her body. Was she in the infirmary? Was she dead?

Her last memory was the Matrix breaking apart around her. However, she also remembered the crew disappearing moments before that so they had at least gotten out before the program shut down. Unfortunately, her instinct was that something had gone wrong with her extraction. That really sucked. Of course, she was glad that the others had been rescued but it didn't seem unreasonable to hope she'd live to tell of it too.

Although awake and aware of herself, everything seemed fuzzy around the edges to her. She didn't feel fully conscious but it also didn't feel like she was dreaming. The air seemed real; the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed felt natural. Still, the blue was everywhere.

"Oh good! You're awake!"

Jo jumped at the sound of a voice to her left. She struggled to sit upright but her arms felt trapped and her head was swimming. Was she starting to hear things? Was this the beginning of some empty existence where she slowly went insane? And that voice. It was an impossibly familiar voice. Maybe that's how the insanity started.

Clamping her eyes shut, Jo tried to clear her head to concentrate on the things that were real to her at the moment. She sensed how her body rested against a hard but slightly pliant surface. The pressure of each controlled exhale she let out increased her mind's alertness. She told herself to focus on the endless blue all around her.

But that voice? It simply continued. "I was wondering if I'd have to sit here all alone and then you showed up. But you wouldn't wake up and I thought it was some kind of weird, cosmic thing that I'd be here for the rest of my days and my sole company was this unconscious person that I don't even know that well; not that I don't like you because I do. Yay Jo Lupo! It's only that it would be just my luck is all. And now—"

Jo finally got her arm working and sharply raised her hand to signal that the endless stream of chatter needed to cease. Her brain was overwhelmed with processing the fact that said chatter came courtesy of Dr. Holly Marten. The recently deceased Dr. Holly Marten—at least recently deceased in the real world according to the notoriously deceptive Beverly Barlowe.

When Jo sat herself up, she noticed that this was not the abyss from a broken Matrix program and that she was not in any kind of setting that she'd ever pictured to be Heaven. The binding that had been constricting her was a blanket covering the length of her body up to her shoulders. The pliant surface she had been resting on was the grass in the middle of the town center, pillow under her head to keep her comfortable. The blue that she'd seen was simply the sky over Main Street in Eureka.

The presence of Holly begged the question: where the hell was she? She couldn't still be in the program. She had watched the whole thing de-res and fall apart. It was impossible. Wasn't it?

Ignoring the over-excited redhead sitting next to her for a moment, Jo looked around and saw what amounted to an exact virtual replica of Eureka. It was the same one from which she had just helped everyone escape but without any of the residents. It was like a ghost town and eerily quiet.

No, they had destroyed the program! What in the world was going on?

And not that she didn't like Holly and she was certainly glad to see some version of her alive and well, but the thought of spending eternity with her was even more terrifying than three Terminator Carters on the warpath. She swiveled around on the grass and faced the other woman again. There had to be an explanation or rationalization for this, no matter how far-fetched.

"Holly?" Jo was apprehensive. Interacting with anything here amplified her fear that this was her true reality now.

Holly didn't seem to be put off by her cautious attitude though. She smiled and gave Jo an enthusiastic wave. "That's me. It's good to see you, Jo." She reached out to possibly hug the other woman and then thought better of it when met with Jo's ongoing confusion and frown. Undaunted, she retained her good cheer at having some company. "Actually, it's good to see anybody, although I'd love if it had been Doug who dropped in, naturally. Or Grace. Oooh, or Zane, it would be awesome if—"

Jo continued to stare at her, still unable to process how they were both here in this surreal version of Eureka. Holly mistook her silence as offense and began making a grand effort to clarify. "I don't mean I'd want Zane here for any weird reasons, just that he's really smart and good with computer stuff and I think we're stuck in a computer simulation so he'd be great to have around. I realize you and him used to … you know. But I've never even remotely thought about him with his shirt off or naked or anything." She rolled her eyes a bit at that. "Well, not _too_ seriously anyway. Besides, you're with Carter now so—"

"Holly!" Jo said stopping her once again from speaking.

"Oh," she replied. "Awkward, right? Sorry." She looked around, trying to think of something else to say. "So … how's it going?"

Sweeping her gaze across the empty streets and sidewalks again, Jo sighed and removed the blanket that Holly had thoughtfully covered her with. Finally, she smiled at Holly who returned a nervous grin of her own.

"I gotta say, I've had better days."

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen  
****Restart: Part II**

Jo turned her attention away from Holly. She stood up and circled the small, grassy area to get a good look at the empty streets and buildings surrounding them. Every detail seemed genuine, with a few minor alterations here and there one would expect of the town four years in the future.

Holly was bouncing with excitement next to her. She had obviously been going a little crazy in this version of Eureka by herself.

"So what should we do first? We can go hang out at Café Diem and snoop in Vincent's freezer. Or there's a TV in the Sheriff's Office." Her enthusiasm was accompanied by a smack to Jo's arm, causing her to purse her lips in annoyance but otherwise remain silent. Jo simply reminded herself that five minutes ago, she thought Holly was dead.

"Oh I got it! Let's go play video games in the Tesla computer lab! They've got this one where you have to navigate through this thing and then chop up all these orc looking dudes. I know it sounds lame but it's so awesome, especially if you have two players. By the way, I have no idea how to get out of here in case you were wondering. All I know is that I'm really tired of playing with myself so let's go!" At this point, Jo was staring at her as if she'd grown another head.

Holly finally paused and schooled her sheepish expression. "Here I am going on and on but you probably know this town better than I do. You've had a four-year head start after all. I bet they programmed you to know all the good stuff … whoever, 'they' are. Should I be worried about the 'they'? And do you feel weird? You know, not being a real person and all? I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I'd be really interested to know."

Jo tensed at that last part. She thought it would get easier to explain what was going on with the Matrix, especially because Holly seemed to have some understanding of the circumstances. But it turned out that she was the hardest one of them all. How was Jo going to explain to Holly that out in the real world, she was technically dead?

It was difficult to even know where to start. Best to begin with the most important part.

"I know this sounds weird, Holly, but I'm the real Jo, not the one you've seen for the past month. I replaced the Jo Lupo NPC in the program so I could help get them out."

Holly narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Seriously? Because you look just like her. I've got a thing for faces and I saw you and Sheriff Carter at Café Diem playing checkers with Jenna like two days ago."

Jo shook her head, "Jenna could barely use a spoon when I saw her this morning let alone play checkers." Holly stared at her skeptically. "It's only been a month since the Astraeus disappeared, not four years," she explained. "While I adore Jenna, I'm not her surrogate mom and I'm definitely not hooking up with Carter." She still had the urge to flinch every time she clarified that.

Holly's face scrunched up in concentration. "Oh." She looked around the program again. "Now that you mention it, the last thing I remember before everyone disappeared is talking to Sheriff Carter about the computer glitches that were happening, first with that stupid dragon and then with the scratches on my arm. He got really sad looking and then … this," she said, pointing to the Eureka around them.

Jo was confused. Did she say dragon? Was it possible that Holly's mind had been damaged by whatever version of the program they were in now? Would that happen to her too?

Holly snapped out of her musing and began sputtering with agitation. "Ohmygod, ohmygod, do you think Sheriff Carter killed me or ratted me out or something? I thought he was just being nice because he didn't understand what I was talking about or he was being all sheriffy and concerned. You know how he gets with the eyes and the kid voice—"

Jo nodded but she needed Holly to focus. "Yeah, I get it. But Holly—"

However, Holly was on a roll as she seemed to be remembering her last moments in the other simulated Eureka. She was waving her hands around and pacing too. "No wait, I was explaining how we were probably in a computer construct of the real world and he was, like, apologizing because I said that. There's kind of a blank afterwards but then the next thing I remember is being here by myself—well, until you showed up, of course."

Jo didn't know what to make of this information. Beverly said that Wen had killed Holly so what did Carter have to do with all this? She never really elaborated on how Holly would have disappeared in the program, only that Wen had disconnected her and disposed of the body. Before getting jacked into the program, she had sent another team to check out the coordinates Beverly gave her for where they had taken Holly's physical body.

So had Beverly been lying about Holly's death? Would her team find nothing when they went to investigate, or find Holly in some kind of coma state?

Or maybe Beverly had somehow kidnapped Holly after the fact just like the Consortium had stolen the Astraeus crew. The main program running for the rest of the crew had been destroyed. Jo was sure of that. If Beverly had stored Holly's consciousness in another machine somewhere, who knows what she was planning on doing with her. It didn't explain what she could possibly hope to gain from kidnapping Jo and holding her in this purgatory though. That didn't make sense.

But Beverly had actually wanted Henry to infiltrate the program. She'd made a strong argument for it before she and Carter had shut her down. It's possible that Jo hadn't been part of the original plan.

Or it could be that, like Holly's talk of dragons, she was going crazy and succumbing to paranoia.

Seeing Holly standing next to her with a very worried expression, Jo thought she should add to her fund of knowledge in case it was helpful. "The last thing I remember, I was helping the others destroy the simulation and escape the program. Zane and Fargo built an ionic resonator and then we detonated it inside the Astraeus so that Carter and Henry could trace the heat spike from the mainframe's IR signature after a thermal overload. But it caused a fatal cascade failure and the entire town de-resed, piece by piece. We had to send Fargo ahead when it got down to the wire." Holly nodded in understanding. "I'm pretty sure everyone got out of the program right before it crashed; everyone except for me, I'm guessing because I wasn't with them. As far as I know, my body is still back in Eureka."

"How were you supposed to get out?"

Jo frowned. "Henry and Beverly were supposed to disconnect me once they traced the heat spike and discovered where the crew was being held. But they never did. I don't know, maybe Wen caught them or something went wrong on Carter's end."

Holly considered the new information for a moment and then asked, "Who's Beverly?"

"Sorry, Beverly Barlowe. Explaining her is more of a story than you're asking probably."

Holly tilted her head in thought. "Isn't she the one that brain-jacked Dr. Blake? Leaving her in charge doesn't seem like the best idea." She directed an apologetic shrug at Jo and added, "I don't think it's working out that great for you. Sorry."

Jo sighed. It really did sound insane when it was laid out like that. "Yeah. But I trust Henry. And our plan gave Fargo a chance to make sure everyone else got out. It's possible that Henry and Carter never picked up the IR signature and Fargo was the one to eject the crew from the program and get them to safety. Either way, it was worth it for me to take the risk."

"So you saw Doug? And he's the hero? Does he miss me?"

Holly's sudden excitement at the mention of Fargo was a bit startling. Jo thought there were more important issues in her explanation but who was she to thwart love? She watched the woman beside her beaming with life and vivacity at the mention of her boyfriend. She hoped Beverly had been wrong about her being dead. Thinking of Fargo made her long for a miracle in all of this for him.

"Fargo was definitely missing you," she confirmed.

"And you got to see Zane, right? Because he was really sad without you. And pissed off! Boy was he mad seeing you together with Carter."

Jo nodded absently and continued to take in their surroundings. She did smile at the mention of Zane though. Holly's sentimental mood was contagious. "Yeah, I talked to Zane and we worked it out sort of."

"… and Allison, she sort of hated you too."

Jo took a deep breath, keeping her patience in check. "I know. We're good."

As they walked, Jo sensed something else odd like a feeling of unease or discomfort. She couldn't put her finger on it. She had first heard something a few minutes ago but wrote it off as part of the creepiness of this Eureka. She slowed her pace and then stopped as she made herself more aware of this world around her.

There it was again; a sound and a sort of glare she picked up from just beyond her peripheral vision. The sound registered as a slight tone in the background. It was impossible to tell from what direction it was so faint.

And it was getting louder. This wasn't her imagination.

Holly noticed that Jo wasn't at her side anymore and backtracked without missing a beat. She tugged on Jo's arm to get her attention. "Hey, so if the others are back in the real world, when do we—"

"Shhhh! Can you hear that?" Jo looked behind her but there was no one there. There was nothing in any direction as far as she could tell. As the seconds ticked by, the tone turned into a buzz and then a piercing, high-pitched noise.

Tipping her head for a moment, Holly gestured in the negative. "I don't hear anything. Anyway, as I was saying, are we gonna get—"

"Holly?" Jo shouted now watching the scenery around her fill with static and bright flares rushing around her like a tidal wave. The noise was thundering in her head and the static distortions were quickly becoming so thick that Jo's view of the scientist in front of her was getting lost in the visual confusion.

Jo registered Holly's wide-eyed surprise when the woman's full attention was directed towards her. "What's happening, Jo?" Her roving eyes were trying to find some explanation for the changes occurring in front of her. Jo and Holly both reached out to grasp the other's hands but their fingers passed right through. The whole world was fading and Holly was getting farther and farther away.

"Holly!"

The chaos engulfed her and then darkness. One second. Three seconds. Five—

Jo's eyes snapped open wide and a deep inhale burned through her chest. She raised her head up and felt a cold metal ring lining her forehead. The smell of the air, the dimness of the light—

She was back in Henry's garage.

Looking around, she saw bodies littered across the room. She instantly recognized them as military personnel seen in passing the last couple of days although they weren't part of Eureka's regular detail. And amongst the soldiers lay Henry.

Disregarding her fading disorientation, Jo ran over and shook him a little, watching as he returned to consciousness. "Henry? Are you okay?"

Henry was groggy and seemed a touch out of focus but when he set eyes on her, his relief was apparent. "Jo! Welcome back." He watched while the other people in the room were coming around as well. As he became more alert, his eyes widened with concern. "The others?"

Jo shook her head. "They got out. What happened here, Henry? Where's Beverly?"

Henry rubbed at his eyes and tried his best to concentrate on their conversation. "I had to trust her with your life. She got you out of there but it was close."

She let slip a small, nervous chuckle. "Tell me about it. "But where is she?" Jo asked again trying to see who had been left behind in whatever standoff had occurred here.

Henry shook his head. "She's gone," he responded as if he wasn't surprised in the least. Jo's shoulders slumped with disappointment but she couldn't claim surprise either. That was Beverly's M.O.

If the others were alright, that was enough for her.

However, what about everything she'd seen in the past ten minutes? Being out in the real world now, things did feel somehow different. It was entirely possible that her brain was playing tricks on her; they'd certainly seen enough of that in this town. Maybe Grace would have a better explanation. It could be delusions or an echo of the program or anything really.

Jo knew she was making excuses. She _had_ been in an intact and deserted Eureka program. She _had_ seen Holly. She felt Holly's playful swipes to her arm and heard her voice. She didn't want to think that Holly's consciousness was stuck in an empty world by itself or that she would be further abused if Beverly was masterminding something more diabolical.

It was so disturbing and frightening. Had all of that been in her mind or was there something more?

TBC...


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen  
****Restart: Part III**

"Sit still! The sooner we finish with this the sooner you can get out of here." Zane scowled at the nurse standing at his elbow taking another blood and tissue sample. Truthfully, it was only the second one but it was still annoying.

How could he possibly sit still at a time like this? They didn't really expect _him_ of all people to behave did they?

Zane waited impatiently on the infirmary bed—the real GD infirmary this time. They'd just shuffled him and the rest of the crew here and started a series of tests to ensure that they were stable and healthy given their month-long captivity. He was irritable as a result and not the best of patients.

There was security everywhere. More security than he could ever remember seeing in Eureka. Unlike him, most of the crew was sitting quietly and not giving the medical staff any trouble. There was a lot of confusion about what was going on, the situation being one of surprise for which they hadn't had time to prepare. Not that knowing beforehand would have made a difference. Zane was still pretty amazed at what had happened to them.

Allison was talking quietly with the senior doctor on her staff, no doubt conversing about the crew's treatment. Throughout all of this, she had remained so calm. Zane couldn't understand it at all. It seemed like nothing could shake her and the situation with the simulation had tested them all. Grace was sitting beside a silent and sullen Fargo. Carter had taken him aside during the helicopter ride back to Eureka and explained what he knew about Holly's death. As soon as they returned, Jo's security team informed them that her body had been recovered. Zane felt terrible for his friend and wished he knew the right words to help him. But right now he was too full of worry and agitation to be of much use to anyone, especially Fargo.

There was still no word on Jo.

Upon their departure, there had been strict instructions to secure the ship that had housed the crew and the simulation mainframe. A technician had taken over for Fargo in trying to decipher the status of the program. Fargo reported a complete collapse of the mainframe's systems; every aspect of the program contained fatal errors. But not knowing what had happened with Jo, he had contained the corrupted files and shut down the hardware. At the time, he'd seemed pretty fascinated by the intricacy and structure of the program. With every new detail he discovered, there was the curiosity of how it all worked, wondering if maybe they could adapt it to some non-nefarious purpose.

Zane wasn't interested though. After everything they'd been through, he would be happy to see that thing burn and he was sure Allison and Grace were in agreement. He absently wondered if Fargo felt the same after hearing about Holly's murder.

Instead of worrying about the program or checking in with the other crew members, Zane had spent the ride over in a short-tempered funk. He bothered the pilot and senior security officer so much during the relatively brief flight that they threatened to handcuff him to his seat if he didn't calm down. Finally Grace had come over to keep him company for the duration of the trip, mostly distracting him so he wouldn't get himself into trouble. She was struggling with her own fears about returning to their friends and loved ones. When she explained what had transpired at Henry's garage and how it had all ended once Jo arrived, Zane focused his energy on supporting his captain instead of railing about a situation over which he had no control.

But as soon as the helicopter landed on GD's rooftop, his anxiety returned. When they ushered everyone in the building, he craned his neck trying to catch a glimpse of anyone or anything that could ease the stress of not knowing whether Jo had escaped the Matrix or whether it had dragged her down to her death along with it.

Carter had gone off to find some answers as soon as they arrived, giving Allison a long kiss and a promise to pick up Kevin and Jenna on his way back. It was torture sitting here waiting for Carter to return or for someone to tell him what the hell was going on.

Hearing a disturbance across the room, Zane perked up and turned his attention to the source of the new activity. He hoped it was someone looking for a fight so he could vent his anxious aggression. A man in military uniform with an air of arrogant authority had joined Allison and the other doctor, Anna Slinska if he remembered correctly. They were having a heated discussion that was about to become a proper argument judging by the look of outrage on Dr. Slinska's face. In his experience, she had never been one to hold her tongue about anything. He swiveled around on his bed and listened as much as the distance allowed.

"I don't care what your superior told you, there is no way any of these people are going anywhere. They are officially under the care of this medical facility which is under my authority. If you have something different to say about it, well, too bad." Allison put a calming hand on the doctor's arm and then said something too soft for Zane to hear. He could tell from her expression that her words were even-toned but stern.

In response, the uniformed man raised his voice at the both of them. "With all due respect, this is turning into a major security calamity. We will do whatever necessary to remedy this breach."

Zane allowed his anger to catapult over the edge. He didn't know what this guy was about but it sounded like the usual D.O.D. assholery. They were always good for butting in at the worst times and stomping all over things that they didn't even bother trying to understand. He got that they funded GD and Eureka and that the scientists here were able to do a lot of cool stuff on their dime. He got that they could be a handful sometimes in their pursuit of innovation. That didn't give anyone the right to talk to them like they were children though. They had just gone through hell and this guy was trying to pull rank on them?

The trio continued arguing this time with more hushed voices. From what he could catch, the D.O.D wanted to transfer the crew to a more secure location for an official military debrief as soon as they were medically stable. Dr. Slinska was having none of it and although Allison was trying her best to mediate, it was clear that she wasn't thrilled about the idea either. It had only been a few hours since discovering that every terrible thing she'd experienced in the last month was a lie. Zane was sure all she wanted to do was run home and hug her kids.

Zane chanced a quick glance at Fargo sitting on the other side of the room with Grace and discovered that neither the director, nor the captain had even noticed the exchange, or if they had, they weren't acknowledging it. He was glad for that but the fact that this D.O.D. douchebag would insist on something so disrespectful after Fargo's loss and without consulting Grace made Zane even more furious.

Fortunately, it was the perfect excuse for Zane to finally release his frustration on someone.

He waved off the nurse and walked over to the three of them, bad attitude written all over his face. Allison scowled at him as he approached, knowing that he probably was not going to make the situation better. Maybe she was right and maybe she wasn't but he was certainly going to have his say.

"Is there a problem? Or do you have a really good reason for harassing these two fine doctors in front of a roomful of their patients?"

Before Allison could say anything, the D.O.D. asshat—Steinman his uniform indicated—cut her off. "Mr. Donovan is it?" His tone suggested that he knew exactly who Zane was. That annoyed Zane further. He hated unnecessary posturing. "I don't believe this discussion concerns you."

Zane crossed his arms, now fully pissed off. "Bullshit!" You come in here talking about whisking us away to some D.O.D. security compound without our consent? I think that's pretty much everybody's business in this room." A couple of the scientists nearby perked up at Zane's raised voice. If Zane had heard the D.O.D. representative's comments, then they surely had as well.

Allison put her hand up, attempting to stop Zane from making things worse it seemed. "Zane," she warned, "let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"You should listen to her," Steinman said. "We're not here to make things harder on you but we know what's best in these situations."

"If I recall, this whole 'situation' comes courtesy of someone from your house. Wen was on your team. This wasn't a Eureka breach, this was a D.C. breach; your home turf. There's no way we're trusting you to keep us safe even if we did have any intention of leaving here. Which we don't," he clarified. It felt good to stick it to this guy. Who the hell did he think he was walking in here and pretending he was running the show?

And Zane could tell that he'd hit a nerve with Steinman which made his venting feel that much better. "As I was telling Dr. Blake and Dr. Slinska, Eureka does not have the personnel to oversee a debrief of this caliber."

"Well then bring your experts here and work with the facility's security," Dr. Slinska offered. "My objection is to moving them away from my care and the familiar, unmatched resources of GD. Everything you've suggested can be done on-site." She was flustered and clearly angry at having her authority usurped. However, when Zane considered Allison, she looked upset as well but not nearly as worked up as any of them were.

He realized that Steinman had no idea who he was messing with in going against Dr. Allison Blake, former D.O.D. liaison and one-time head of Global Dynamics, both in this timeline and another one if he intuited correctly from Jo, Fargo and the others.

Steinham remained clueless though and directed his next bit of frustration on the doctors standing across from him. "I would beg to differ, Doctor. I do not know, nor have I ever interacted with the security personnel of this facility. In fact, the entire time I've been here, I have yet to meet the Chief of Security, this 'Jo Lupo,' wherever he is. Nor have I even been approached, much less briefed, by the highest-ranking law enforcement officer. I commend the staff here for its rescue of the missing Astraeus crew and for quickly recovering the rogue technology responsible. But as far as I am concerned, the safety and security of the United States government cannot be trusted to a security detail as blatantly derelict, unorthodox and disrespectful as what I've seen today.

That was enough for Zane to truly see red. The stare that penetrated Steinman from Zane could have cut holes into planets.

"I suggest you watch your mouth."

"Or?" Steinman challenged not bothering to hide his humor over Zane's demand.

Zane matched his condescension with a smirk of his own. "I'm sorry that the Chief of Security isn't here to hold your hand and clean up after your mess. She was too busy risking her life to bring us home. And for the record, G.I. Jackass, 'Jo Lupo' is a woman. She's exceptionally competent, very well-respected, and extremely good at what she does. Trust me, I should know given my disciplinary record that I'm sure you've reviewed."

Steinman opened his mouth to respond. Before he could butt in though, Zane added with a grin, "She's also smokin' hot and she's mine so you might want to show a little—no, a lot—more respect or I'm going to forget about that nice, shiny pardon the President just sent me." There was a sinister politeness to his warning that belied the face of his words.

"Is that a threat, Mr. Donovan?" The man was fuming. His cheeks had taken on a violent flush and his fists were clenched as if he wanted to punch Zane in the face. Zane considered this progress. Now they were both furious.

For several moments, the two men remained locked in a hostile stand-off. Zane just knew this guy was going to drive him to do something he would regret or at least something that Jo for damn sure wouldn't approve. He didn't even know if she was dead or alive and this guy was pouring salt in the wound by not having the decency to know the gender of the person he was disrespecting; the same special woman that had saved his life and the lives of half the people in this room.

Across from him, Allison was fighting a grin at Zane's dressing down of the D.O.D. official. Zane almost snapped at her too, wanting to ask if she was enjoying the show. But it seemed like turning on her would defeat the purpose of coming over to provide her and Dr. Slinska some backup.

"Gentlemen," Allison said, stepping in. "I don't think hostilities in the infirmary will be necessary." Turning to Steinman, she fixed him with a polite and slightly smug smile. "As I was about to explain to Mr. Steinman—"

"_Colonel_ Steinman."

"Right, _Colonel_ Steinman," she added. "I agree that the regulations regarding any potential breach as a result of espionage or treasonous activities is under the direct jurisdiction of the Departments of Defense and Justice. All investigations, interrogations and interviews are to be coordinated by a specially appointed officer. I assume that's why you're here?"

Steinman had calmed down somewhat, happy to hear that someone had finally listened to him and would perhaps agree with his call of the situation. "That's correct, Dr. Blake."

"But Allison—"

"Zane, there's nothing we can do about that. It's standard procedure." With a controlled expression she explained further. "Eureka, of course, has its own protocols established by its enabling legislation and they trump standard D.O.D. regulations in certain rare circumstances. These protocols state that when there is an outside security breach—meaning a breach by someone who is not a full-time resident of the town or facility—and it involves serious medical concerns or if it involves unstable, unauthorized or novel technology, all investigation must be coordinated in conjunction with GD security, local law enforcement and the mayor of Eureka for a minimum of forty-eight hours but up to three months. No personnel can be reassigned nor any equipment moved off-site within this preliminary time period. Additionally, all requests for any transaction of this nature must be approved by Global's government oversight committee." She tapped a few commands into her tablet, displayed a copy of the provision and handed it over to the uniformed officer.

Steinman no longer looked particularly grateful for her.

"Colonel, we have intercepted two such outside incursions in the past year, the previous breach of which I am intimately familiar. And if you've done your homework, you'll recall that during the attack on GD last year that resulted in the theft of the D.E.D device, General Mansfield deviated from this protocol against the director's orders and before he received approval from our GOC. That resulted in the theft of sensitive technology and led to significant and unnecessary property damage and injuries. While we were able to recover our technology, with the help of our highest local law enforcement officer, Sheriff Jack Carter, and our security chief Ms. Lupo, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I haven't seen General Mansfield in Eureka since that incident.

Allison retrieved her tablet and shut it down before staring the Colonel directly in the eye leaving no question as to who was in control of this situation. "GD is the top scientific facility in the world. The information and technology we found with the Astraeus crew, not to mention the ship itself, is highly classified and unsafe at any other location. If you disagree, that's fine, but you're going to have to go through the proper channels to accomplish what you're suggesting."

All three of them stared at Allison in stunned silence. Zane was the first to grin. No, Allison Blake was not a woman to be messed with and she had just schooled this jerk in the most awesome way possible: with a taste of his own patronizing medicine.

Steinman was at a loss for words. Before he could put his foot in his mouth further, Thompson from Jo's security team walked in and headed straight for them. He didn't look happy.

"Colonel Steinman. It's good to finally meet you. I'm sure the communication I sent an hour ago with a full status summary and request that you contact me the moment you arrived was somehow misplaced by your assistant. That would certainly explain your presence here after strict instructions from Washington that the Astraeus crew would not be disturbed until they were cleared by GD's acting medical director." Dr. Slinska's smirk was almost blinding. "I'm assuming your conversations with Doctors Blake and Slinska is to acquire an ETA on the crew's medical status before reporting that information back to me?"

Thompson framed his inquiries to sound both respectful and threatening. Jo had trained him well. There were many choice words Zane could attribute to the guy but he had to admit, Thompson was coming off as kind of a badass—not as much of a badass as Allison, but impressive nonetheless. And just as Zane thought, the whole show from this guy was meaningless posturing; an attempt to throw his weight around and try to bypass what he knew was the correct course of action. It backfired beautifully. Zane thought that it served him right and shook his head in disgust.

Steinman pursed his lips but said nothing so Thompson took the opportunity to direct him out of the infirmary, turning back around to wink at Dr. Slinska. The gesture made both ladies chuckle.

"Nice work, Allison," Zane said, temper finally subsiding.

"I have my moments," she replied as her laughter died down. She and Dr. Slinska moved to Allison's desk at the center of the room to continue consulting about whatever issue they'd been discussing prior to Steinman's arrival.

Zane assessed the infirmary once more wondering if anyone had noticed the exchange. Those few personnel who had been listening before clearly heard the entire argument and were laughing discretely about it. Several others were looking in his direction with curiosity but had been too far to follow the conversation. It was probably for the best that they hadn't made too much of a scene. Like everyone didn't have enough to deal with right now.

And at least it had been a good distraction from his worrying over Jo. He frowned realizing that he should have asked Thompson about any news on her before he left. His anxiety returned full-force.

"I may regret saying this but you're kind of sexy when you're being an anti-authoritarian bad boy. I'll have to reward you later for defending my honor."

Zane's head whipped around at the sound of Jo's voice, her face bright and amused as she greeted him. He didn't even have time to react before she grabbed his face, none too gently, and kissed him with a terrific display of relief and joy and love.

His survival instincts were strong yet her belief in him kept making him stronger. There had been many moments today where he was so thankful to have Jo within reach: their reunion in the woods when he'd discovered she was his Jo and there was an escape from the hell he'd been living for the past month; the race from the Astraeus when the feel of her hand had urged him to run faster than he ever had in his life; those shared moments in the fake GD rotunda when he thought he was losing his mind and his life but let her steady gaze ground him into hanging on for each extra second. Having her arms around him right now blew all of that out of the water.

For each of those encounters, he thought he would never be more sure of her or more sure of what they could be together, and, damnit, she just kept proving him wrong. It would be annoying if he weren't so in love with her.

The momentum of Jo's embrace pushed him back against the nearby bed. Although still a bit shaky, he encircled Jo in his arms and returned her kisses, oblivious to their very public setting. And he gave back as good as she was giving. He held onto her even when they ran out of breath and stood smiling at each other, heads still pressed together. Instead of pulling away, he'd kiss her again and again, his lips against her cheek or lightly skimming her lips.

He couldn't get enough of her warmth or the solid feel of her in his arms. The waiting and wondering had been terrible but it was forgotten in the satisfaction of her presence here, fitting so perfectly along his body. He was overwhelmed by her and by the emotional reaction he was having to their reunion.

"We didn't know if you got out in time," Zane whispered to her. "I'm man enough to admit that I was scared out of my mind. I know it's only been a little over an hour but I missed you JoJo. So much."

Jo chuckled and stroked his cheek. "And I'm girly enough to get a little weak-kneed by that. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to worry." He squeezed her tighter and let his lips linger near hers, enticing her into an extra kiss.

It was irrational and silly and possibly paranoid but he didn't want to let her go.

After a few minutes, which seemed like mere seconds to Zane, he felt Jo pull away. Over her shoulder, he saw that Allison had approached with Carter not far behind. He hadn't even noticed Carter come in so focused on Jo was he. Allison had her hand on Jo's arm and an expression of happy relief on her face. Zane fought the irresistible desire to keep Jo to himself yet reluctantly released her so that the two women could embrace.

"Found her." the sheriff quipped. He was beaming next to Allison while carrying Jenna in one arm and ushering Kevin along at his other side.

They were joined by Grace who also gave Jo an enthusiastic hug before returning to stand with Henry. Zane noticed that the tension of their experience hadn't quite left Grace as she stood ill at ease next to her husband. No doubt she was happy that her crew was home but things were going to be much more complicated for her.

Fargo was the last to approach the group. He was still visibly upset but he was also happy that his friend had made it through alive. Jo didn't hesitate to hug him tightly and murmured something in his hear that Zane couldn't hear. Fargo nodded against her shoulder and tried his best to keep his emotions from spilling over.

When Jo let go of Fargo, they all stood together, no one saying a word, just looking at each other in an entirely new and grateful light. Each face held a different expression: relief, sadness, joy, fear, excitement, love. They had gone through something tragic and awful but also extraordinary. The possibilities of their experience both astounded and frightened them and it was difficult to say what direction they should turn to next.

But they could deal with that tomorrow. For the rest of the day, they would breathe.

TBC...

* * *

_AN: Sorry about this tome of a chapter. I couldn't find a place to break it up so I left it as is so we can have a little resolution. One more chapter to go! _

_Thanks again for sticking with the story and for all the support, particularly for those of you I can't respond to personally. It's been a wild ride and I hope I can get a satisfying closer worked out for y'all (and get the ole brain thinking about whether any sequels are advisable if I can do them justice). I wouldn't mind a bit of happy while we commiserate over mourning the end of Eureka. _


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen  
****Restart: Part IV**

Jo made her way across Main Street and breathed in the sweet air of the real world. It was good to be home.

She stopped to put in an order at Vincent's temporary set-up for Café Diem. In the month since the restaurant had been destroyed, they'd done quite a bit of work on it. In fact, Zimmer couldn't start fixing up her house again until they finished with the Café sometime next week. She was currently still staying with Carter but wondered if she should make other arrangements now that the crew had returned. Even before the accident, Carter had given her the heads up about asking Allison and the kids to move in with him and S.A.R.A.H. He assured her he wouldn't be kicking her out right away but it was going to be a full house.

And the things that had gone down in the Matrix would make it pretty awkward; for her and Allison especially.

The situation put her in a bit of a bind. She was back in the same position as when Larry first destroyed her house. Staying with Fargo was out, although now for very different reasons. He would probably want his space to mourn Holly. Notwithstanding that concern, they were complete opposites and would likely kill each other within a week.

Grace and Henry had their own thing going on as well. If Grace's demeanor since their return was any indication, their reunion meant coming to terms with how to move forward. Henry had to deal with all of the conflicted emotions Beverly had stirred up. Grace had to deal with who her husband turned into inside the program—and what she'd had to do to stop him.

And Zane? Well, maybe. That idea was very tempting but also very, very scary. There was nothing she'd enjoy more than curling up with him for a while just the two of them. But that would mean something significant, right? She wasn't sure they were ready for that. They'd both been so worried for the other during the last few hours and so relieved and happy to be reunited. But when the adrenaline wore off, would he still want her as much as she'd come to hope for?

Then there was the whole 'walkabout' situation. She'd obviously stepped back into her old position at GD and there was every indication that she'd be offered it back on a non-emergency basis. Is that what she wanted? The reasons for leaving had been very real and were important to her at the time. But so much had changed in such a short amount of time. She'd seen and experienced things that had likely changed her perspective about, well, everything. Her decision to leave felt like a lifetime ago. It had been a big decision, though, and it deserved some honest reflection and resolution before she even thought about going forward with Zane and her life in Eureka.

Speaking of Zane, she spotted him sitting at a table in front of the Café's construction zone. Their eyes met briefly and even from this distance, she saw him smile at her. What that grin could do to her insides. It was embarrassing.

She also noticed Carter and Allison sitting with the kids at the table next to him and she signaled to the waitress that she'd be right back for her order. Walking over to her temporary roommates, she was delighted to see the joy from everyone at the table. Of course, Carter had been worried, but she'd seen how upset Kevin was as well. He and Jenna both looked over the moon to have their mom back, even if Kevin was balking at Allison's coddling in typical teenager fashion. Carter had done a good job taking them in his care; everyone was glad that it hadn't been made permanent though. The prospect of those kids being orphaned was horrifying and was another reason to condemn Beverly and the Consortium.

"So how is the happy, reunited family," she asked the group.

Allison, with Jenna on her lap, looked up at Jo and smiled. "We're happy. Thanks to you." Jo returned her smile and reached down to tickle Jenna. Her giggles as she tried to get away from Jo's attack made the whole group laugh.

"How are _you_ doing?" Carter asked. He accompanied his question with a casual brush of his hand against arm. Jo jumped at the contact, shoving Carter's arm from her and backing away.

She hadn't meant such an extreme reaction. His gesture wasn't even that intimate but it still freaked her out, the idea of the two of them together. Her mind flashed back to the walk through the woods in the Matrix Eureka where, in front of Zane, she had to endure the touches and overt familiarity of the virtual Carter. The Astraeus crew members weren't the only ones that would need to adjust back to reality.

For now, the way she was hovering behind Allison's shoulder, it looked almost like she was hiding from Carter. It actually made Allison laugh even harder. Jo thought to be annoyed but she was just glad that her friend didn't seem to be holding a grudge against her anymore.

"You know what?" Jo said. "I got drinks coming up and I'm gonna go take care of that." She pointed towards Vincent's mobile Café Diem truck but was actually walking in the opposite direction to where Zane was sitting. "Carry on," she added, waving. Allison was still laughing. Carter, on the other hand, wore an expression of utter confusion. Jo rushed over to Zane not wanting to have anything to do with explaining their Matrix relationship to him. It was for his own good; some stuff is best kept to oneself—especially those disturbing things you could never un-know.

When she arrived at Zane's table, he was chuckling too at what had just transpired. "So, that was smooth." She glared at him but sat down anyway.

"Still feeling limp," she shot back with a raised eyebrow.

Zane's grin faded. "He said he wouldn't say anything. Damnit Carter!" Jo was the one laughing this time. Leaning forward, Zane's eyes shot daggers to the head of an oblivious sheriff. Jo turned as well, in time to catch Allison's admonishing expression over Zane's open hostility. Thankfully, Carter's back was to him. Zane relented but was still frowning.

"You know you're going to have to let that go at some point." She understood his lingering anger towards Carter, really, she did. Terminator Carter had been a pain in Zane's ass even before he started threatening and killing people. He had plenty of reasons to resent that particular NPC which is probably why he'd been so nonchalant about shooting him. But they were back in the real world and that meant putting effort into the healing process. The Jack Carter here wasn't the bad guy. He had helped save them and didn't deserve Zane's or anyone else's hatred or fear.

"I know." Zane sighed and returned his attention to her. "But not today."

She reached over and stroked his cheek, feeling a smile return to his face. "Fair enough." It would take some time—and in Zane's case, lots of patience.

Jo watched his focus divert to something in the distance and tracked his gaze to Fargo walking alone by the bronzed Archimedes statue. He looked defeated and so lost. After they all were released from the infirmary, Fargo said that he wanted to be alone. It might be that he'd changed his mind but more than likely, he didn't know what he needed right now. Who would?

In silent agreement, they stood and headed in his direction.

On the way, they stopped to pick up the Vincespressos waiting for them in the window and noticed Deputy Andy standing close by with his own melancholy expression. Jo smiled at him as they approached, however, she noticed Zane had moved a little closer and slightly in front of her as if in protection-mode. It was an annoying gesture, one that he should know better than to use with her, but she let it slide.

"Hey Andy. Is something wrong?"

Andy gave her his usual enthusiastic smile that she'd finally stopped finding creepy. "Hey Jo!" he called out with a cheerful wave. "Mr. Donovan," he added, registering Zane's chilly reception. He looked back and forth between them and decided to focus on Jo. "Uh, can I ask you something?" Jo nodded at Andy who glanced between her and Zane again for a moment. "I just don't understand. Everyone in the crew seems to be afraid of me. Did I do something wrong?"

Jo hesitated and considered how much she should tell Andy, if anything, about what the simulated version of him did in Eureka. Would she want to know if she were him? Maybe. Or maybe not. It's not like it would make him feel any better knowing. It was certainly the reason why no one had mentioned to Carter or Henry what they had been up to in the Matrix.

"No, Andy. _You_," she emphasized for Zane's benefit, "didn't do anything wrong. I think it'll pass. Sometimes it takes people a while to adjust to reality."

"Oh, ok," he responded, skeptical.

Jo nudged Zane in the arm. He scowled, unhappy about what she wanted from him. He rolled his eyes and relaxed his tense shoulders. "Yeah Andy, it'll pass. People are just still freaked out is all." Clearly, hearing that from Zane went a long way with the robot deputy judging by his excitement.

Jo watched as Fargo sat on the bench, shoulders slumped and with a dark cloud hanging over his head. This situation was as hard on him as they'd both feared.

"Can you excuse us Andy?" The deputy agreed and she pulled Zane along towards Fargo.

"Thanks for that." Zane shrugged and kept walking. "Seriously, Zane. It was really nice … and it wasn't so hard, was it?" He shrugged again but she picked up the slight grin at her assessment of the situation. Today was difficult but she would never stop challenging him to be the best he could be rather than the negative jackass he thought others expected of him.

Speaking of challenging predicaments, she suddenly stopped them before crossing to where Fargo sat. "Hey, can I talk to you about something really quick."

"Sure. What's going on, JoJo?"

Smiling at his old nickname for her, she tried to focus on how she was going to explain what had just popped into her mind. "I know we said we weren't going to talk about it today but it's about the Matrix program." He remained silent but did look curious about why she would bring that up now. "After you guys disappeared and before I woke up in Henry's garage, I saw something. Something strange."

Shaking his head, Zane crossed his arms in front of him, tension written all over his face. "I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about that. Jo, I was scared out of my mind for you earlier. I'm not interested in walking down memory lane just yet. And I'm not looking forward to it when I know I'll have to."

She reached out to calm him with soothing strokes along his arm. "I understand that and I wouldn't bring it up unless it were important. What I saw is so impossible, I'm afraid to even mention it or else you guys might think I'm crazy."

Zane frowned. "This sounds serious. And now you've piqued my interest. I assumed Beverly got you out at the last second and you just woke up in the garage."

"Well, she must have but … I can't say for certain." She licked her lips and stalled for time while she organized her thoughts. "I remember the program coming apart around me. I blacked out for a moment and then I woke up again in an exact replica of Eureka, except deserted."

Zane's brow furrowed as he thought about a potential explanation. "I suppose it's possible that your mind conjured up some kind of coping scenario to explain the overload and trauma to the sensory part of your brain. I'm sure Grace would have a better explanation for it." He pointed back towards the area from which they'd come. "She's back at the Café if you want to go—"

"No, that's not all," she interrupted. "When I say I woke up in Eureka, I mean, I woke up the same way I did inside the Matrix when I found you. It felt as real to me as being in there, almost as real as standing here with you." Zane dropped his arms and planted them on his hips instead. She hesitated before she dropped the biggest bombshell. "I wasn't alone. Holly was there—or some form of her."

He smirked, a little too condescending for Jo's taste. "Are you saying you saw a white light? Did the ghosts of your friends and loved ones meet you at the Pearly Gates? Jo, come on."

She ceased her stroking and hit him on the arm; hard. "That's not funny. Not remotely. And I'll only say this once: you're free to have your beliefs and opinions about religion and God and the existence of the universe. But the second you disrespect mine is the second we're going to have a major problem."

His eyes softened, realizing that she was dead serious and that he had crossed a line with her. Given the intensity of the last few hours, it was easy to forget that they were still learning when it came to whatever it is that they were to each other. "Fine. Got it. So if that's not it then what are you trying to tell me?"

He didn't look particularly apologetic but it's not like Jo was surprised by his attitude. "If you can put aside your snarking, what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm concerned about whether we really shut down the Matrix. And I'm concerned about whether or not some part of Holly's consciousness is trapped in it."

"What!" Her hypothesis was not what he had expected to hear. "That's …"

"I know it sounds crazy. But she was there. I talked to her. I felt her." Zane narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, get your mind out of the gutter. You know what I mean. The point is, before I was pulled back here, for a few minutes there was some kind of virtual world that existed where Holly was still alive. I can't explain it." She turned towards their friend sitting a few feet away. "And I don't know how to even try to with Fargo."

Zane remained in place, deep in thought. He didn't need to ask her if she was sure. He knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn't have mentioned it if she wasn't. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't have any explanation for it. Maybe it was another program glitch or even a whole different virtual program that Beverly created. It's not like we've ever really understand her true intentions."

"That's what I thought too. She originally wanted Henry to go into the program so it could have been her plan all along to trap the both of them. Instead, she trapped me along with Holly. But then she lets me go?"

"That seems like a stretch. And its a huge gamble for her, to what ends?" He was silent once again. "If it truly was Holly that you saw, maybe there's some backup system in the mainframe? Like when a program crashes on your computer and it recovers your file as a backup." His eyes started moving rapidly as he made a series of mental connections with this theory. "If we booted it back up, maybe some remnant or cached model of her that you saw would show up as well."

"Remnant? What does that even mean? My team recovered her physical body this morning. She's dead, right? But the woman I talked to? It _was_ Holly. She wasn't an echo or a ghost. It was her. And she remembered everything up until the point she was 'ejected' it seemed."

"The truth is we have no idea what we're dealing with when it comes to this technology. Jo, I don't have any answers for you right now." He ran his fingers through his hair and she could see the signs of his weariness quite clearly now. "Let's talk to Grace about it next week. Maybe she'll have some ideas. The pieces of the mainframe won't be here until tomorrow and it'll be a while after that before we can catalogue and examine what we've got." He turned towards Fargo too and sighed. "Until then, let's keep this to ourselves. I can't see Fargo taking it well right now and I don't think we should even mention it unless we've got more information than we do now."

Jo put her arm around his waist and pulled him towards her. "Thanks."

He kissed her on the forehead. "Don't mention it. But no more Matrix talk today, okay?"

She let him go and took tentative steps towards Fargo. "I promise." Zane followed close behind.

They approached their grieving friend and stopped at a respectful distance, unsure of whether he would welcome their company. He looked up, not having even noticed their arrival or anything else around him it seemed.

"Hey Fargo," Jo said. Although he had acknowledged their presence, nothing else about his demeanor indicated that he wanted to talk.

With his back to them, he said, "You lied to me. Both of you."

Jo paused, not knowing quite what to say to make things better. She had expected some resentment but hadn't prepared herself for the reality of it. "I know it's not a good excuse but I was trying to protect you; at least until we got back."

Zane took a step forward towards him. "We're sorry for that, Fargo. Truly."

Jo nodded, and then realized that he wouldn't be able to see with his back still towards her. Instead, she moved to his side and took a seat beside him on the bench. She understood he was hurting but she was his friend. She wouldn't let him grieve alone, even if he was going to be mad at her in the process. She didn't know what else to say though so she just sat there with him.

When he did speak again, his words broke her heart. "But I couldn't protect her. Like how you and Zane protected each other."

Zane put a hand on Fargo's shoulder. "I know. You couldn't have protected her and that's worse. None of us could." Zane shared a quick, uncomfortable exchange with Jo over Fargo's head. She couldn't hide the tears forming in her eyes. They had been so close the first time. If they'd been only a little quicker would it have made a difference for Holly? They'll never get that answer. Jo knew from years of losing people that she shouldn't even be trying.

Fargo finally looked up meeting Jo's eyes and he allowed her to see the extent of his love for Holly and his misery over her loss. He had been trying to hold it in thinking that he was a leader and a logical scientist. However, this pain was too much for him. There was something about his need for absolution to which Jo could relate. The reality was that it was never satisfying; there was never much sense in this kind of tragedy. He would have to settle for the comforts of friendship and family and time.

She put a hand on his arm and the three of them stayed there together in silence. Each of them was focused on mourning but also wondering what could have been. Or in Zane and Jo's case, what might be.

After a good while had passed, Fargo took a deep breath and stood up, still tired but not as troubled as when they'd first spotted him. He turned and tried to smile at them but it came out as more of an awkward grimace instead.

"Hey, aren't you guys supposed to be somewhere having a ridiculous amount of sex or something?" Jo and Zane looked at each other and then back at him with a flustered bewilderment that did seem to lift Fargo's spirits a bit. "That's what you said, isn't it?"

Zane turned to Jo with a devilish expression. "I was a little out of it at the time, but that sounds about right. And he _is_ the boss, babe," he leered at the woman next to him. Jo crossed her arms in a huff but a tiny smile snuck up across her lips.

This time, Fargo did flash them a genuine smile. This was normal. Not her dating Carter or fighting an evil Andy or Holly getting murdered in a virtual world. Fargo probably desperately needed normal right now. Zane antagonizing her with his innuendo would definitely do the trick in her book.

"See you guys," Fargo said turning to leave.

"Hey!" they both called out after him.

He waved them off. "I know, I know." He smiled weakly again and kept going. At this point in his relationship with both Jo and Zane, he knew they'd be there if he needed them.

Jo and Zane watched him go, with Zane taking a seat next to Jo and sneaking his arm around her. She placed a hand on his knee and relaxed in his arms.

"So … you game, JoJo?" She stared at him trying to decipher his odd request. "Our ridiculous sex romp? I'm game, so I'm wondering if you are too."

She nudged him with her shoulder and laughed. "I could be convinced," she teased, standing and taking his hand. "Now are you absolutely sure you're over your limpness because I'd hate to get all worked up over nothing."

Zane rolled his eyes but gave her arm a strong pull so that the momentum landed her back in his embrace. "I'll show you worked up." He leaned down and kissed her deeply, tongue immediately sweeping into her mouth to taste a hint of her Vincespresso. Jo had no incentive to resist him so she didn't even try. Pulling away he planted another quick kiss to her lips before letting her go and continuing their walk down Main Street. "I'm getting back at Carter for telling you that by the way."

"But not today," she echoed, reminding him of his earlier hesitation.

He grinned down at her. "No, today I'm all yours." She dropped his hand and put her arm around him instead.

Things between them were no less complicated than we she'd left before the Astraeus launch. There was still so much to work out, both old and new issues. But he was right; for the rest of the day, she only wanted him. Being together like this was a reward for believing in them. It was a gift she planned on cherishing for hours to come if he was up for it.

This was only the beginning of something better.

**The End**

* * *

_AN: __Thanks for seeing this story through. I always hope to sufficiently show my appreciation for your kind reviews and alerts and hits so I hope it doesn't get old. This story length more than doubled because of your feedback and I think became more interesting and exciting because of it too._

_I started out meaning to tell a little 'what if' story and ended up taking chances to which I never thought I could do justice. Seeing what you responded to (or didn't) or just seeing you pop in to let me know you were entertained was really helpful. I'd read your reactions and see that folks were still reading and it gave me the confidence to be creative. Early on, I had dismissed the idea of bringing back Terminator Carter (he originally was never heard from after the incident in the woods) or having Zane go after Jo or Zane getting shot. Late in the process, I took a left turn by bringing in Holly. I'm sure some of my changes didn't work but I was challenged to think outside of the box and _make_ certain things work. _

_As I've mentioned, I'm likely to do a follow-up to this but I don't like posting stories until I've written at least the basic framework (otherwise it takes me forever to finish). So it'll be a little bit, though not too, too long. I'm sad to see such a wonderful show ending so I'm sure I'll be hanging out in this world for a while to come._

_And FYI, I'm actually a Mac user. I don't think I've control-alt-deleted in ages. _


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